Colin Minihan’s Coyotes is a wild romp where nature eats the rich, and Justin Long and Kate Bosworth play perhaps the cutest couple in horror history. It’s a plain ol’ good time and perfect to add to your Halloween watchlist if you’re looking for a bit more levity in your lineup. And that levity is not only thanks to a killer script, but to two strong performances from Long and Bosworth.

With a simple premise of trying to escape hungry, killer coyotes, Minihan gives his actors lots of room to play to craft a terrifying yet silly story about family and survival.

We spoke with Long and Bosworth at Fantastic Fest 2025 about struggling to be serious on set and tackling a found footage reboot!

Dread Central: Congratulations on Coyotes AND Night Patrol!

Kate Bosworth: Thank you so much!

DC: That’s so cool to be together in a movie.

Justin Long: It is, yeah. We met on a movie called House of Darkness. 

DC: Oh, it’s right. We reviewed it at Dread Central, and we loved it!

KB: That was such a fast and furious experience. That one was at the tail end of the pandemic. I think we shot that movie in like 13 days, six-day weeks, all night. So it was wild. And so it’s almost like that was a blair. With Coyotes, we had a little bit more time.

JL: A little bit.

KB: No, that’s true. But we shot it in Colombia, in Bogota, which is shocking because you see it, it’s all about LA. I know, I was IA. Yeah. I bought it. 

DC: I bought it, but I’m not from LA! It was convincing.

KB: This one is fun because we had been looking for something else to do together and really kind of wrap our arms around it. Also, as actors, it was super fun to play a married couple.

DC: It sounds weird, but in a fun way. 

KB: You know what? That’s a perfect way to describe it. It was weird and in a fun way. 

JL: Sometimes when you’re playing married with somebody you don’t really know—I remember doing a movie with Christina Ricci. We had just met, and we had to do this very intimate scene the day we met. She’s a total professional, but still, for me, there’s an awkwardness.

DC: Your characters have that lived-in quality to them.

KB: But the interesting challenge with Colin—I actually saw a photo of him talking to us on the bed. And the interesting challenge was that he had to keep reminding us that there was tension in the marriage. 

DC: That’s so funny because I love the marriage. 

KB: Oh, I’m so glad you said that!

DC: There’s a little bit of tension, but I like the vibe!

JL: It probably should have been more. [Laughs]

DC: Oh, I was into it because they were actually relatively happy with each other for the most part. That was kind of refreshing. 

KB: We really love each other, and we really like each other. We have so much fun. We have a saying that it’s all play, and it’s even the hard stuff. It’s like, we’ll look at each other and say,
“It’s play,” you know? 

DC: That’s so nice, though!

JL: It is, but the one time that it doesn’t come in handy is when you’re supposed to be having strife and distance. It was important for the story. And I kept forgetting! 

KB: So did I. 

JL: We’d start doing bits and getting punchy, trying to make each other laugh, you know? And Colin’d be like, “Guys, you know, you’re supposed to have this tension and not like each other as much. That’s what the story is about. There’s an arc here that I’m trying to maintain.”

KB: He literally shot us separately. Like, have you noticed we’re together in very few frames? 

JL: He’s so smart. 

KB: He’s a very visual filmmaker.

DC: I love his stuff.

KB: Me, too!

DC: So that’s why you’re doing Grave Encounters, right?

KB: Oh, we’re excited to get into this!

JL: We fell in love with Colin, creatively.

KB: And Brittany [Allen], too.

DC: Oh, she’s amazing. Have you seen What Keeps You Alive? 

JL: Yes, yes! That’s what really drew us to Colin. 

DC: Oh, amazing! I love that movie. 

KB: It’s so really brilliant at the end. It’s just so smart, and it’s such an honest, authentic character piece. It’s so well done and so contained. I remember when I saw this, Justin was directing the V/H/S segment “Fur Baby.” 

DC: Oh, I interviewed your brother about it at last year’s Fantastic Fest!

JL: I know, I wish I could have been here. But I was shooting Night Patrol. 

KB: But he was directing “Fur Babies”, and we got the script for Coyotes. I feel like all genre movies really ride the line, especially something like this. It’s a lot of comedy, a lot of horror, and it’s like just like the right amount of “wink wink.” It’s a hard line to walk. You need very capable, deft hands. So I had not seen What Keeps You Alive, so I watched it, and I called Justin, saying, “I’m telling you, I really feel like this is the one to do together.” And then we all fell in love with Colin. 

JL: We did, because Coyotes, it’s a fun script, but it’s a straightforward creature feature. But you need a filmmaker who can deliver that because, in the wrong hands, it can be a middle-of-the-road type of thing. But Colin had such a visual take on it.

KB: We helped get some of those actors on. Keir O’Donnell is an old friend. Kat McNamara, she’s in the beginning of the film. We basically called up our friends and said, “We really believe in this movie, please come to Bogota and come play for a couple of days.”

DC: Wait, but I love that you do that for movies. You’re not just in them, you’re IN them.

JL: That’s what we want to do with Grave Encounters, too. 

KB: Yes!

JL: I educated myself when we directed “Fur Baby”. When Josh [Goldbloom], [V/H/S] producer, gave us the opportunity, I didn’t know too much. I had seen The Blair Witch Project. But I really got into it and the creative challenge of telling a story. 

KB: But we’re so excited about Grave Encounters because Colin has such a brilliant take on it. Obviously, it was his first feature. Stuart Ortiz is involved as well. He has such a great take, and he’s going for it. 

JL: He’s like, “There are things I want to do now that I have the knowledg and the capability. Yeah. 

KB: Sometimes you need to let time pass to be able to do the things you want to do. 

JL: But we want to stay true to the original. We love the original. 

JL: It’s just so smart with a camera, and it scares you with things that you’re imagining. That’s my favorite kind of horror, what you don’t necessarily see. He’s got a real deft hand for that and for riding that line. 

KB: I do feel like you and I entered this with our love story and expanded it, too. And I mean this, it’s a love story of us and the creative collaboration of a filmmaker. I mean this. We’ve never felt this way with another filmmaker!

Coyotes is available now on digital and VOD.

Categorized: Interviews