By: Lotti Pharriss Knowles
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 10/01/2025 – In my humble opinion, it’s a great time to be alive if you’re a horror fan. While I’ve always had a deep love of movies within the genre, from the silly to the sublime, I’ve had my socks knocked off time and time again in recent years by filmmakers with unique, indelible visions. And I can’t think of another genre that’s taken such big swings and produced consistently exciting results, such as Sinners, Blink Twice, Men, Oddity, Weapons, The Substance, and many more.
The latest movie I’m adding to my growing list of modern classics is Ben Leonberg’s Good Boy, which opens nationwide this week. Leonberg’s launching point, to create a horror film from a dog’s perspective, feels remarkably simple and yet astonishingly original – and the end result is both harrowing and emotionally affecting.
Good Boy stars Leonberg’s own retriever, Indy, who is apparently not a trained “showbiz” animal. His incredible performance is a testament to both to his soulful brown eyes and to Leonberg’s expert shaping of the footage of Indy from behind the camera during filming and later on in the editing room.
The film follows a young man named Todd (Shane Jensen), who is running from his daily life and a serious illness to an isolated house he inherited from his grandfather (Larry Fessenden). Todd’s only comrade on this journey is Indy, who, like most of our canine companions, is completely devoted to and protective of his human. Indy is also the first to notice that something is very wrong in the house, where Grandpa filmed several bizarre videotapes of himself and his own “good boy” before dying there of a similar illness to Todd’s.
Without spoiling too much, I can reassure others like me, whose first concern is “what will happen to Indy,” that they can watch Good Boy without fear. Well, without that one fear – the film is very scary overall, as one seeking out horror might hope. The excellent score by composer Sam Boase-Miller amps up the dread.
Some movies just “stick to your ribs,” and I couldn’t stop thinking about Indy after the credits rolled – so much so that I dreamt about him that night! I give major kudos to Leonberg and rest of the cast and crew, but I must echo the Indiewire reviewer who called Indy “one of the most emotive actors of his generation – regardless of species.” I’d happily watch that boy in anything.
Good Boy (73 minutes) opens in select cinemas this Friday, October 3; its streaming debut date on Shudder and other platforms will be announced at a later date.
