Movies from a dog’s perspective aren’t new, but it’s rare in horror films. “Good Boy” (2025) takes this conceit and, while not exactly running with it, gives us food for thought about a good dog’s unshakeable loyalty toward a human who perhaps doesn’t deserve it.
Around Indy (played by a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever of the same name), a typical ghost story plays out. Director/co-writer/cinematographer/dog owner Ben Leonberg knows how to do this stuff, getting great production value for an indie film out of an old cabin in the woods.
Without the unique perspective, it would be a dull 73 minutes. But since we’re with Indy, we feel his innocence and understand he can see (or sense) the black shadows in a way his owner, Todd (Shane Jensen, usually shot from the neck down), can’t quite.
“Good Boy” (2025)
Director: Ben Leonberg
Writers: Alex Cannon, Ben Leonberg
Stars: Indy, Shane Jensen, Arielle Friedman
Indy doesn’t have a character arc; he’s simply a loyal dog. So to give us a through-line, we get to know the traits of the mysteriously ailing Todd, who wants to be left alone by his helicopter sister, Vera (Arielle Friedman, mostly a voice on the phone). Todd watches old home videos left by his late grandfather, owner of the lost dog Bandit; the cabin is a great place to wallow.
“Good Boy” takes advantage of every opportunity for a scare to set the mood, even if there’s nothing to it, like a neighbor in hunting camo slowly lurking into the picture to say hello. In the cabin, it sets up the POV through doorways and down stairwells. Though not a found-footage film, it uses those principles.
A good boy in a bad world (Spoilers)
(SPOILERS FOLLOW.)
The movie has a mystery only inasmuch as information is denied. As soon as we gradually realize Todd is terminally ill, we know Death is stalking him. Death (as an inky black monster that smells like death) is a metaphor for death. The cabin is a place curmudgeons (old or young) go to die, because the basement contains a gateway to what seems to be a hellish afterlife.
“Good Boy” makes us reflect on the toxic relationships some unfortunate dogs are in with their owners. Todd wants affection from Indy whenever he feels like it, but not vice versa. There are readings of the film wherein Todd is trying to protect Indy from the monster, and of course it seems wrong to dislike a guy dying of lung cancer, but nonetheless Todd becomes less likeable as he’s closer to death.
He ties Indy up, rather than leaving him free to find a new life if need be, and this could be a slow death sentence. We see that’s what happened to poor Bandit, trapped in the basement. Maybe “Good Boy” is a call for dog owners to think of things like this.
(END OF SPOILERS.)
“Good Boy” could’ve added more layers of mystery or intrigue. Even though you’ll be hard-pressed to find a shorter feature film, it feels like an indulgent “Twilight Zone” episode. Leonberg is focused on the core meme-able idea that “humans don’t deserve dogs.” Point taken, and artistically so, but there was room for more.