‘Good Boy’ (2025)

A horror thriller that follows the titular ‘Good Boy’ Indy, an endearing Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Ben Leonberg’s feature directorial debut follows the relationship between a dog and his owner Todd (Shane Jensen). Suffering from a chronic respiratory ailment Todd and Indy move out of the city to Todd’s rural family home, hoping to regain his strength in the fresh country air. Not all is as it seems however when Indy begins to notice a dark presence following them.

One of the year’s most uninhibited performances, Indy leads ‘Good Boy’ with an effusive and affecting execution of his role. Pure of heart and a good boy at his core, Indy delivers that which is taxing to execute and almost impossible to capture.

In partnership with his human Ben Leonberg, the director and co-writer of the script manages to work with Indy to deliver some of the most heartbreaking and horrifying sequences that have been put to the screen. Adopting a unique style, where the story unfolds from Indy’s perspective, the film regauges the viewer’s outlook, forcing us to appreciate the sometimes limited viewpoint of a hound.

Allowing Indy to make use of his heightened senses, the film relays how Todd is slowly succumbing to his disease. With Indy watching the dark figure encroach on the two at Todd’s grandfather’s house, it is only the dog and the audience that are already aware of Todd’s demise, long before the man knows that for himself.

Horror has always been a genre that allows creators to express a deep unrest, wrongdoing or injustice through hidden figures, dark spectres and terrifying imagery. ‘Good Boy’ takes the horror path to delve into exploring the darkness that disease can be. The mud-covered skeletal figure and its imminent approach signal Todd’s passing, and ‘Good Boy’ finds a new way of exploring this trope, - the slow yet imminent doom of a person with a terminal disease.

A hidden figure representing illness may not be a novel idea, but presenting it through the eyes of a dog brings a new kind of terror to the screen. Many may already be suspicious of animals picking up on different energies as they peer into the distance, seemingly at nothing and ‘Good Boy’ exploits that fear masterfully as it squarely places a figure hidden in the darkness, not meant for humans to see.

Deciding to relocate, Todd is supported by his sister Vera (Arielle Friedman) as she continuously checks in on him via phone calls. Initially receptive, the two talk about Todd’s wellbeing and joke around about their grandfather’s house being haunted, as he too had perished there with an undisclosed decease.

Signalling Todd’s downward spiral, he eventually rejects Vera’s calls, lashing out at her and dismissing her calls as guilt-fuelled check-ins. Abrupt and enraged, Todd is shown losing interest in those around him as he has to deal with accepting his fate. Even though Indy is the focus of the feature, Jensen captures beautifully the overwhelm onslaught of dark and negative thoughts as one is faced with their own mortality.

Further exploring Indy’s heightened senses, the dog picks up on visions of the past, revealing the demise of Vera and Todd’s grandfather as he was slowly overtaken by the darkness and was also comforter by his dog. Giving us further explanation of the generational similarities, ‘Good Boy’ strongly veers towards Todd’s dark presence to being a genetic disorder, slowly taking one of the family members at a time.

Showing us the heart of the story lies in the bond between Indy and Todd, the dark figure eventually does manage to take Todd’s life, with Todd asking Indy not to rescue him and that he is a ‘good boy.’ A hair sort of a tearjerker, Indy delivers an expression of deep pain and sorrow as the dog is told to not wait for his human. Absolutely heart-wrenching, the film concludes on Indy having lost his best friend and having to deal with an unexplainable and unfair dark force having ripped his favourite human from his side.

A beautiful story about loyalty, patience and love, ‘Good Boy’ delivers an apt metaphor for terminal illness and the persisting love that exists between the terminally ill and those around them. Not compromising on its dark and terrifying tone at the same time, the film crawls into ones psyche and asks us to sit with acknowledging the fear of the unseen. Understanding that there is an evil lurking in the shadows was not enough for Leonberg, so he has promptly developed the feature to bring that darkness out of the shadows, forcing us all to acknowledge our ultimate fate.

Score: 4/4