Coyotes is a genre-bending horror-comedy directed by Colin Minihan, known for his work on Grave Encounters and What Keeps You Alive, and written by Tad Daggerhart (The Expendables 4) and Nick Simon (The Pyramid).
The film stars real-life couple Justin Long and Kate Bosworth, whose onscreen chemistry adds a layer of emotional tension to this survival thriller set in the Hollywood Hills.
The story centers on a fractured family trapped in their home during a raging wildfire, only to discover they’re being hunted by a vicious pack of coyotes. What begins as a domestic drama quickly spirals into a surreal, blood-soaked allegory about nature, fear, and the primal instincts that surface under pressure.
Minihan was drawn to the project for its tonal complexity—equal parts satire, suspense, and creature feature.
The script’s blend of absurdity and dread allowed him to explore themes of ecological collapse, urban isolation, and the thin veneer of civilization. Daggerhart and Simon’s writing balances sharp dialogue with escalating horror, using the coyotes not just as physical threats but as metaphors for the chaos lurking beneath suburban order. The wildfire backdrop intensifies the claustrophobia, turning the family’s home into a pressure cooker of secrets, survival tactics, and moral compromise.
Story by…
Everyone in Los Angeles has a coyote story … whether they’ve awakened to discover the family cat has
disappeared, leaving nothing but a fur-tufted collar behind; or found themselves followed by the yipping taunts of a pack trying to honeytrap their dog while hiking Runyon Canyon; or spotted a lone alpha stalking them down a dark downtown alley late at night.
Coyotes — and their tales — are as ubiquitous as LA’s traffic. While coyotes are lightyears smarter than most drivers here, both have achieved near mythic status.
During the WGA/SAG strike, while Nick and Tad were shouldering signs on the picket line, they started talking about coyotes and their experiences, and both realised that turning LA’s dumpster-diving, cat-stealing, unofficial mascot into a screenplay seemed like a no-brainer.
From writer Nick Simon – the inspiration behind Coyotes
For Nick, inspiration for Coyotes struck when he and his family were trapped in their Silverlake home for three days after the Santa Ana winds knocked out power to their neighborhood. While walking their dogs one evening, they found themselves trailed and taunted by a growing pack of emboldened coyotes. And — in that dusky neighborhood — when he could see the dim glow of light where power was restored a few blocks away, Nick understood — even in the urban heart of Silverlake — the savage bite of nature could always be at his throat.
In December 2011, the Santa Ana winds knocked out power to the duplex my wife and I were living in in Silver Lake.We lost electricity for three full days – and because the emergency release on our gate was busted, we were basically trapped inside. At one point, while walking our two rescue mutts, I realized we were being followed… by a coyote.
Then two. Then three. With the power out and the neighborhood pitch black, the coyotes grew bolder.
I remember looking out the window and seeing the line where power had been restored – just a few blocks away – while we remained stuck in the dark. That’s when it hit me: how terrifying would it be to be trapped in your home with coyotes trying to get in? A home invasion story, but with nature as the invader. And the worst part? You can see help… you just can’t reach it.
I tried writing it a few times over the years, but it never fully clicked. Then in 2023, during the WGA strike, I was on the picket line with Tad Daggerhart, talking about shelved ideas we still loved. I pitched him Coyote, and like every other writer on strike, we decided to write it on spec. Tad is an incredible writer who also brought a much needed and brilliant sense of humor to the project, and I can’t wait to see it come to life.
From writer Tad Daggerhart – the inspiration behind Coyotes
Tad had a similar experience while horseback riding in the Angeles National Forest and a coyote plopped itself down in the middle of the trail, refusing to move. He’d never seen one assert such authority before. During what seemed an hours-long, leering stare-down, his mind whirled and he thought of how Coyote — the trickster god — discovered the first horse, how the US government waged an extermination war against coyotes for over half a century, and how — with one bad turn of luck — Tad could end up the main course in a coyote buffet.
~ Tad Daggerhart
Daniel Meersand – Story by …
While studying film production at Brooklyn College, Dan bluffed his way onto several tv and film sets in
locations around New York City, beginning his industry career when he began getting job offers instead of contemptuously being “asked” to leave. As a writer and/or producer, he has worked extensively for
broadcast television including the VMA’s, MTV Movie Awards, ESPN, SyFy and NBC Sports, for which he
won an Emmy Award for his work on the 2004 Athens Olympics. Dan eventually walked away from broadcasting to study screenwriting at the American Film Institute Conservatory. Daniel’s feature film credits include THE PYRAMID (Fox 2014), and the thriller REMOVAL (Lionsgate 2011).
Director’s Statement
I read the first draft of Coyotes and started laughing out loud. It had bite. It had chaos. And most
importantly, it had fun. I was sitting with Britt, flipping pages, both of us wide-eyed and saying, “Okay, this
is f***ing nuts.” That’s when I knew I wanted in.
At the time, there were actual coyotes stalking our old dog in the Hollywood Hills. Every night felt like a
horror movie. That real-world weirdness synced perfectly with the script’s energy. It wasn’t trying to be
clever, or cool, or some kind of elevated genre exercise. It just was—wild, tense, funny, and totally
unpredictable. A horror-comedy-action beast that actually had the nerve to entertain.
I’ve spent the last decade watching horror get more and more self-serious—movies that think they’re
profound because they don’t actually say anything. Ambiguity has become a crutch. Somewhere along
the way, people forgot that horror could be fun and still have soul.
Coyotes is a course correction.
This movie is sharp, fast, and unafraid to go for the jugular and the laugh. No social media screens. No
hollow metaphors. Just characters who feel real, thrown into a story that knows exactly what it is and
never slows down to apologise for it.
I also edited the film myself—not out of control, but out of instinct. This kind of movie only works if you
keep the tone razor-sharp and the energy moving. Every cut needed to feel deliberate, alive, and a little
dangerous.
Coyotes isn’t trying to be cool. It’s trying to bite. And hopefully, leave a mark.
~ Colin Minihan
Colin Minihan is a Canadian filmmaker whose bold, genre-bending stories are shaped as much by his love of horror as by his upbringing on Vancouver Island. Surrounded by forests, storms, and isolation, Minihan developed a visual and narrative sensibility rooted in atmosphere, tension, and emotional subversion.
He first broke out with the found-footage cult hit Grave Encounters, and quickly became known for taking genre setups and pushing them into unpredictable emotional territory.
His solo writer, directorial debut, What Keeps You Alive, premiered at SXSW, earning widespread critical
acclaim for its tense, character-driven reinvention of survival horror. The film was listed as one of Rolling
Stone’s “10 Best Horror Films of 2018” and later climbed into the Top 10 most-watched films on Netflix in
2020 cemented Minihan’s reputation as a filmmaker who blends craft, intensity, and heart.
Minihan often writes, directs, and edits his films, giving them a cohesive, visceral rhythm that’s become
his signature. He collaborates closely with his wife and artistic partner, Brittany Allen, who has starred in
and scored multiple of his projects.
Tad Daggerhart is a writer and producer who recently penned the latest instalment of the Expendables franchise, and Black Lotus. He is a Screenwriting alumnus of USC, where he was awarded the prestigious Annenberg Fellowship and wrote the award-winning animated short, Traffic Cone.
Nick Simon is a filmmaker hailing from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, known for his distinct voice shaped by
a Lebanese-American upbringing and his mentorship under Wes Craven. After graduating from the
American Film Institute, Simon made his feature debut with The Girl in the Photographs, produced by
Craven premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. His credits include The Pyramid (20th Century Fox), Truth or Dare (a Netflix Halloween favourite), and the critically acclaimed Untitled Horror Movie, praised for its inventive production and biting satire of Hollywood. Simon most recently directed Entity Within, a chilling supernatural film based on the true “Entity” case, starring Heather Graham and Mimi Rogers.
He is also a co-writer with Alexandre Aja on a branching narrative project for Paramount Pictures, and co
wrote and executive produced Coyote, starring Justin Long and Kate Bosworth.
