Justin Long and Kate Bosworth Face Off Against Nature in Colin Minihan’s COYOTES, Premiering at Fantastic Fest 2025

Justin Long locks eyes with a predator in COYOTES, premiering at Fantastic Fest before hitting theaters October 3.

“The fire’s not the only thing closing in.”

Fantastic Fest just dropped another wild card into its already dangerous deck: COYOTES, the new survival horror-comedy from genre disruptor Colin Minihan (What Keeps You Alive, Grave Encounters) starring real-life couple Justin Long and Kate Bosworth.

The film will make its world premiere in Austin before heading into theaters and on demand October 3rd, and if the first image from Aura is any clue, this one isn’t playing nice.

Suburbia Gets Savage

Set in the Hollywood Hills during an apocalyptic wildfire, COYOTES traps a family in their home as a pack of smoke-blinded predators begins circling. Roads are gone, power is out, the air is thick with heat—and the line between domestic drama and full-blown horror disappears fast.

Long and Bosworth lead the film as parents trying to keep their family together while being stalked by nature’s least chill creatures. They’re joined by:

• Mila Harris (Mary)

• Brittany Allen (Dexter: Original Sin)

• Katherine McNamara (Shadowhunters)

• Norbert Leo Butz (A Complete Unknown)

The script comes from Tad Daggerhart (The Expendables 4) and Nick Simon (The Pyramid), who keep the tone swinging between terror and absurdity, injecting humor into a premise that feels like Cujo meets The Day After Tomorrow—but with fangs.

Eco-Horror with Bite

COYOTES leans into the consequences of wildfire displacement, turning coyotes into more than just background noise—they’re the main event. The film mixes claustrophobic home-invasion tension with natural horror, where the real monster is the collapse of boundaries between human and animal, wild and civilized.

It’s also a biting commentary on the fragility of modern safety nets. What happens when the hills burn, the lights go out, and the only thing between your family and a pack of starving predators is a few inches of drywall?

A Couple in Crisis

This marks the third onscreen pairing for Long and Bosworth, and from what we’ve seen so far, their chemistry is all in. The film uses their real relationship to explore how couples survive pressure—literal and emotional—as everything around them falls apart. The laughs hit, but they cut deep.

First Look and Festival Hype

The first still shows Justin Long mid-snarl, weapon in hand, staring down one of the beasts just outside frame. It’s gritty, tense, and absolutely Fantastic Fest material.

With just two weeks to go before we land in Austin, COYOTES is already climbing our must-watch list. Expect full coverage on the ground—including interviews, reviews, and more exclusive looks—once Fantastic Fest kicks off.