Good Boy, 2025,
Directed by Ben Leonberg,
Starring Indy, Shane Jensen, Larry Fessenden, Arielle Friedman, Stuart Rudin, Anya Krawcheck, Liptu Das, and Max,
SYNOPSIS:
A loyal dog moves to a rural family home with his owner, only to discover supernatural forces lurking in the shadows. As dark entities threaten his human companion, the brave pup must fight to protect the one he loves most.
It’s practically an unwritten rule that when making a film, one should never work with real animals. The reality is that they are unpredictable and unlikely to heed a single word of traditional direction. Of course, there are examples throughout filmic history that buck this trend, but with Good Boy, director Ben Leonberg has outdone disaster and modest expectations while also delivering on a genuinely fresh premise in that it is a supernatural story (co-written alongside Alex Cannon) told from the perspective of man’s best friend trying to warn and protect his owner.
These are words no one ever expects to write when becoming a film critic, but Indy the dog makes a case for winning an acting award, as this isn’t just a film making good on a nifty, chilling, and tantalizing premise but one with a legitimately emotive and often striking performance from a real animal.
There is also an incredible reason behind this: director Ben Leonberg spent years with his significant other, developing this concept for a horror film in his mind, and training Indy together. The results have certainly paid off, considering that even if there are numerous reasons it’s difficult to recommend Good Boy beyond the novelty factor fully; that damn dog is constantly putting forth an expression or giving a concerned whimper or becoming one with the eerie atmosphere and whatever supernatural forces are in the surrounding area, absorbing the viewer into his plight.
Perhaps the real genius stroke is that, beyond Indy on the lookout for demonic spirits and alert to anything that poses a danger to his owner Todd (a stilted Shane Jensen, showing early on that human performances will not be one of the strengths here), this is also a story about something more than hauntings and one that will resonate emotionally with anyone who has had tight human-animal bonds. Without giving much away, Todd is concerningly ill, and has retreated to his late grandfather’s secluded cabin with Indy. Aside from a couple of phone calls with his sister, Vera (Arielle Friedman), there isn’t much in the way of conventional storytelling to explain why or what was going through the minds of these characters.
Instead, Todd buries himself in home video footage of his grandfather (horror great Larry Fessenden), reminiscing about his kindred connection with beloved dogs. None of them is still among the living, which also adds a quietly moving thread of loss throughout the experience, that becomes clearer and sadder by the film’s conclusion. No, that doesn’t mean the dog dies. That would be far too cheap and exploitative for a movie that has something more thoughtful on its mind.
While much of this is brilliant on paper and unnerving and emotionally gripping in execution, even at 78 minutes, Good Boy also feels stretched beyond its limits and as if it would have served better as a short film. There are simply moments that are too languid and mundane, overindulging in experimentalism to fill a feature-length running time. It takes a while for Good Boy to do something with its premise and atmosphere, but when it does, more ingenious creativity is on display, along with heavy emotions. Good Boy is a good one, with Indy carrying the film on his fur and covering up some of the flaws. Bring Ben Leonberg and his wife aboard any film involving dog acting.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
