Editor’s Be aware: This evaluate was initially revealed throughout the 2025 SXSW Movie & TV Competition. Impartial Movie Firm opens “Good Boy” in theaters Friday, October 3.
We’ve all skilled the creepiness of a pet sensing one thing you’ll be able to’t; the eerie sensation that comes whenever you see a canine barking in the course of the night time at an empty wall, looking at nothing, or wandering off in a rush to chase one thing that appears invisible. It’s spooky sufficient to witness in actual life, however add in some haunting horror imagery — as Ben Leonberg’s “Good Boy” does in nice provide — and it turns into a basis for one of many yr’s scariest motion pictures, albeit one which additionally doubles as an emotional and shifting tribute to the emotional bond between folks and their four-legged associates.
“Good Boy” has a easy idea that hides a laborious and ingenious unbiased manufacturing. The movie’s director, co-writer (with Alex Cannon), cinematographer, and producer, Leonberg spent three years along with his spouse and producer companion Kari Fischer teaching their very own lovable retriever Indy, turning him into one of the crucial emotive actors of his technology — no matter species.
Indy stars as, nicely, Indy, an excellent boy whose human, Todd (Shane Jensen), relocates to his grandfather’s cabin upstate after a most cancers scare — nevermind that the home is creepy as all hell, has lengthy been deserted, or that Todd’s sister Vera (Arielle Friedman) thinks the grounds are haunted. Todd shrugs all of that off, oblivious to the home’s screamingly apparent “horror film ready to occur” vibe. You already know who senses hazard straight away, clocking the ghostly eyes that look again at him from the darkish of night time, the shadowy determine creeping by the corners of the home, and the ominous sounds coming from the basement? Why it’s Indy, in fact.
It’s straightforward to ascribe the success of “Good Boy” to the ability of its canine star, however the movie refuses to let Indy really feel like an inexpensive gimmick. If something, it’s a really well-considered one, because the comparatively easy act of changing a dumb human character on the middle of a haunted home story with a canine makes even essentially the most peculiar and predictable of scares newly efficient. In any case, audiences are instantly skeptical of horror motion pictures with canine in them (to the purpose the place there’s an entire web site devoted to warning canine lovers if one dies in a film). As a result of Indy has no data of what’s taking place in the home, nor any consciousness of what a haunted home even is within the first place, his reactions are scarier and extra tragic than these of a human. Likewise, the premise is strengthened by the truth that Indy remains to be underneath Todd’s command, and may’t simply depart the home on the first signal of terror; he’s a prisoner of his proprietor’s unhealthy decision-making.
Cinematographer Wade Grebnoel retains the digital camera at eye stage with Indy, utilizing his point-of-view to indicate how the canine sees issues. Todd, the neighbor, even the unusual apparitions are obfuscated merely due to their peak, which provides to the eerieness of Indy’s expertise but additionally makes Indy’s recognition of Todd’s voice all of the extra emotional. To create pressure, loads of the film is simply Indy tilting his head in curiosity whereas trying into the gap, instantly adopted by a shot of empty house, which lets the creativeness go wild. The sound design additionally deserves enormous credit score for the way scary and impactful “Good Boy” is, not simply within the case of the weird and spooky sounds round the home, but additionally in the way it isolates — and even creates — the sounds that Indy makes all through the movie.
Not that Indy’s efficiency requires any actual augmentation, because the title of Leonberg’s debut is underselling simply how a lot of a great boy its star actually is. His fixated darkish eyes and floppy ears convey a variety of feelings that promote the horror at hand simply as lucidly as they articulate the deep and unbreakable bond between Indy and Todd. Certainly, “Good Boy” makes use of its supernatural undertones with a purpose to seed a supernatural style story with a easy allegory a few boy and his canine.
You may draw your individual conclusions concerning the nature of the bizarre issues taking place in the home — canine can scent issues we are able to’t, not simply medicine, but additionally dying itself — however there is no such thing as a denying one factor, which is that Indy fiercely loves Todd and can go to hell and again for him. This evaluate received’t spoil the pooch’s destiny, however relaxation assured that “Good Boy” doesn’t simply depart you fearing for Indy’s life, it additionally scares you to consider what it have to be like for a canine to grapple with the idea of mortality itself. The true canine might have had no thought what was taking place on set, or that he was on a set to start with, however his efficiency is all of the extra affecting for the way nicely Leonberg’s movie is ready to leverage that confusion into one thing all too relatable to the people watching alongside.
Grade: A-
“Good Boy” premiered at SXSW 2025. Impartial Movie Firm opens “Good Boy” in theaters Friday, October 3.
Wish to keep updated on IndieWire’s movie evaluations and demanding ideas? Subscribe right here to our newly launched e-newsletter, In Overview by David Ehrlich, during which our Chief Movie Critic and Head Evaluations Editor rounds up one of the best new evaluations and streaming picks together with some unique musings — all solely accessible to subscribers.
