Film Review: Good Boy

Welcome back to the blog readers. I could write an essay on my love-hate relationship with horror films, especially over the last three years. But it suffices to say 2025 could be the best year for horror I have ever seen. We may have had some missteps with films like 28 Years Later and The Conjuring: Last Rites (both 2025), but most of the films I have seen range from good to Sinners (2025) good. Would this film join that pantheon, or would it be yet another misstep? Stick around to find out.

Good Boy was directed by Ben Leonberg from a script by Leonberg and Alex Cannon. The film stars Shane Jensen, Arielle Friedman, Larry Fessenden, and Leonberg's dog Indy as himself. In the film, a dog named Indy begins noticing strange things happening when he and his owner Todd move to a house that is supposedly haunted.

As a dog owner myself, I was definitely intrigued at the idea that this film was going to follow the dog and his point of view, since the animal is usually disregarded or killed in other horror films (the aforementioned Conjuring: Last Rites almost made me walk out since that dog got hands put on it). The film had been getting rave reviews, so I had to check it out. And I have to say that I loved this film. The performance of Indy, the atmosphere, and the ending are all points of this film that deserve my praise.

I have to heap an unimaginable level of praise on the bestest boy in the world, and his name is Indy. Indy is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever who, according to his owner (director Ben Leonberg), is not a trained animal actor and did not know he was in a film. This fact only makes his performance in the film more brilliant, because we are experiencing these emotions with Indy. When he is sad, we are sad. When he is fearful, we are fearful. And what Leonberg said at the end of the film about us projecting our emotions onto Indy, is a brilliant tactic. I have no idea if there are any acting awards for our canine friends, but he would get it if there was one.

The next point I want to make is that of the atmosphere. The film literally starts with Todd in a trance-like state where he is dripping blood from his nose while Indy sees a premonition, so you can tell from the jump that this film is going to start dark and stay dark until the end. And sure enough, that is the case. From the weather being extreme clouds or rain the entire time to the dark undertones that Leonberg is able to bring to the film, this is one of the darkest films of the year and Leonberg really knows how to bring the dark and dreadful atmosphere.

Before I make my way to my final point, I want to pivot and talk about the challenges it took to make this film. Like I mentioned in my paragraph regarding Indy's performance, his owner said that since Indy is not a trained actor, it was more difficult to keep his attention in scenes. In the behind-the-scenes featurette that played after the film, Leonberg said that they were only able to get seconds of footage in a day. It took them 400 DAYS to film a 73-minute film because Indy was not a trained actor. The very minimal crew had to work miracles to get Indy's attention and to be able to get the shots they needed, and I commend everybody who worked on this film because this was not an easy task, but they worked and worked to be able to get to what we saw on the screens.

Now I finally want to get on and talk about the ending of this film. I do have to praise the creators for actually taking some bold risks and leaving us having mini heart attacks at what we were seeing on the screen. The scares that we got, the risks that Leonberg decided to take, was everything. And the very ending of this film (which I will not spoil), reminds me heavily of the Futurama (1999-2003; 08-13; 23-) episode Jurassic Bark (2002), an episode I have seen only the ending of and will never watch in its entirety because of it. Suffice to say, I almost cried at the end of this film.

In conclusion, Good Boy takes the fears of being a dog owner to a whole new level with a canine performance for the ages and an ending to leave a tear rolling down your eye. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.