The film industry is embracing eco-horror in a particularly intense way lately. Director Paul Greengrass stated that he aimed for the “most realistic depiction of fire ever on film” in his upcoming film, The Lost Bus. There’s also Paramount+’s Wolf Pack, which begins with a similarly harrowing situation of kids on a bus fleeing their town as fire rages through, and in the first moments, we see the fleeing fauna fill the voids between the crowded cars in the streets. I had thought we would find Colin Minihan’s Coyotes adjacent to those more dramatic thrillers, as the story deals with similar serious subject matter, such as wildfires and animal displacement. What we get instead is way more fun.

Eco-horror and disaster films are seemingly morphing into a singular subgenre, especially as dissenting opinions over climate change have led us to a point in time where we’ve pulled out of the Paris Accords, the EPA has been dismantled down to a shell of its former self,  Fossil Fuel production has expanded, and justice programs that protect our environment are being repealed. So there’s definitely room for the much more serious version of Coyotes I was expecting.

Instead, screenwriters Nick Simon and Tad Daggerhart (on a story they created Daniel Meersand) keep Coyotes on a lighter level, telling the story of workaholic father Scott (Justin Long) trying to keep his wife Liv (Kate Bosworth) and daughter Chloe (Mila Harris) safe after a windstorm turns over a tree in their yard and takes out the power for the entire neighborhood. With dwindling phone batteries and canned meals by candlelight, the family tries to make the best of a bad situation, until a roving band of displaced coyotes decides to take advantage of the chaos and move in.

Minihan doesn’t stick to bottlenecking his characters either, or at least not right away. First, he introduces us to a terrific group of wild personalities, such as Trip (Norbert Leo Butz), who seemingly spends his days doing blow in a silk kimono and hooking up with call girls like Julie (Brittany Allen), who enters the story by simply knocking on the wrong door to hilarious effect. There are also Tony (Kevin Glynn) and his wife, Sheila (Norma Nivia), who appear to be in the midst of a rocky point in their relationship, and Devin (Keir O’Donnell), the exterminator, whose personality feels like a much more intense version of John Goodman from Arachnophobia. In fact, much of the way the exposition is handled, between one increasingly horrifying incident and the next, feels very akin to Frank Marshall’s rollercoaster film.

Despite the film’s background of Santa Ana winds fueling wildfire flames and displacing animals’ habitats, Coyotes has a generally fun vibe about it. It oddly speaks to the dangers some people find themselves in by being oblivious to the scope of the situation. The tree Scott is too busy to cut down, working as a metaphor for this, while also linking to the absent effort he’s been putting in with his wife and daughter. He’s too mired in the work that he’s doing to pay attention. The theme works well here, as many people stubbornly refuse to see any climate change evidence, and the result could be an ecological disaster landing right on their doorstep, much in the way the Coyotes do at Scott’s residence – that’s some good subtext right there.

And kudos to Minihan for understanding that beating people over the head with that information doesn’t typically make for the most entertaining movie. He appeals more to the surface-level structure of the film, which is filled with some jaw-dropping practical effects (I’m looking at you, Trip!), and even the CGI effects are immensely well done. In all honesty, I was convinced the film must’ve used AI at points and found myself sticking around to see if a little bit of text at the very end of the film would confirm its use, but I was psyched to see artists’ names in the credits. Steven Ardal, Karl Hein, and Andrés Saab’s team have created some intricately designed coyotes, whose blending in with the scene composition and lighting makes them look utterly unbelievable. Kudos to this team, this is some excellent work.

Though lighter than expected, the film still contains some intense moments. One surprise was so good, I jumped right out of my seat and then laughed at myself. Plus, with the script centered on a likable family, it becomes very easy to want to rally behind them. Coyotes is a superb thrill-ride that’s like Cujo times 10, with no lulls between action scenes and a cast of characters that reminds me of the rather madcap ensemble energy of Werewolves Within.