In his feature film Coyotes Kill For Fun, Blake Eckard tells the tale of a small mountain community seeping into lawlessness like the Old West. Bev, a struggling mother of two, is trapped in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Larry. Desperate for help, she hires Sue Anne, a seemingly ordinary but unsettling babysitter, to watch her kids while she works at a local truck mechanics shop alongside her co-worker, Cliff. Though Sue Anne is somewhat a pillar of the community as she was the teacher for many of its denizens, her eerie behavior and cryptic thoughts suggest she harbors deep, hidden intentions. She mutters about the haunted nature of the place and someone named Billy.
As this unfolds, a mysterious stranger arrives in town and confronts Freddy, a man with a dark history who is connected to the stranger’s past. The stranger recently returned after a long absence and is on a mission to recover something important. His first point of contact is Freddy, but when Freddy fails to provide answers, Freddy and his co-worker don’t turn out so well. The stranger’s violent path eventually points toward Larry, who last had the object. However, when Larry discovers the item is missing, he violently accuses Bev and her children of stealing it.
Needing help, Bev turns to the only people she trusts: Sue, Anne, and Cliff. Sue Anne devises a plan to help Bev and her kids escape Larry once and for all. But with the psychotic stranger closing in and unresolved tensions simmering beneath the surface, the situation spirals out of control.

“…a struggling mother…is trapped in an abusive relationship…she hires Sue Anne, a seemingly ordinary but unsettling babysitter.”
Stories like Coyotes Kill for Fun fall right in the wheelhouse of indie film, where micro-budget films have an advantage over big studio productions. In the end, studio films often feel too slick and high-end in trying to tell the gritty tale of a rust-belt community trying to survive. Writer/director Blake Eckard continues the tradition of crime taking over a small town and leaving devastation in its wake.
At the same time, the production’s budget is also its curse. Sound was an issue, as I struggled to hear dialogue at times. There were also coloring and lighting issues. That said, there are production elements that work perfectly with storytelling, like an abandoned home where several deeds go down. The film’s location simply gives the impression of feeling trapped in many personal ways.
The story itself is a brutal tale to tell, mixing horror, thriller, and crime genres. Like a Western, everyone goes through the wringer and emerges worse on the other side. Haunting is the best description of the final chapter.
Coyotes Kill for Fun is a gritty indie film about a small town descending into lawless chaos. Blake Eckard blends horror, thriller, and crime drama into a brutal story where no one escapes unscathed. While the low-budget production is hard to hide, it adds to the film’s raw, haunting atmosphere.
Coyotes Kill for Fun is part of a double-feature DVD featuring two of Blake Eckard’s most startling and harrowing films: Bubba Moon Face and Coyotes Kill for Fun.