This post contains spoilers for “Good Boy.”
“Good Boy” asks the question, “What if a cute little pup was menaced by supernatural entities for an hour and 10 minutes?” Why it asks that question isn’t initially clear but anyone with a heart will surely have a much more important question: Does the dog die in “Good Boy?” Without keeping you in suspense any longer than the film does, dog lovers can rest assured that this particular good boy does indeed survive his ordeal. But it’s not as though he makes it out entirely unscathed. As such, animal lovers will want to be wary going into this one.
In 2023, first-time director Kyle Edward Ball stoked our collective repulsion at the idea of children being harmed by malevolent forces in what was one of the most terrifying movies of the year, “Skinamarink.” The only thing worse, at least for anyone who’s ever known the affection of man’s best friend, is surely having to sit through a good hour of a dog being similarly imperiled.
Though the premise might seem silly at first, when you actually watch “Good Boy” it quickly becomes clear that you’re witnessing a carefully-crafted horror that uses its canine-centric perspective not as a gimmick but as an effective way to provide a genuinely novel take on the haunted house story — or as /Film’s Chris Evangelista put it, “Good Boy” is genuinely inventive and creepy. Much of that creepiness is heightened due to the fact it’s befalling a lovable, loyal pooch who’s only trying to protect his owner. But that also makes certain scenes tough to watch, and while Indy the dog does make it out of “Good Boy” alive, he has to endure some pretty harrowing experiences in order to do so. If you don’t mind spoilers and simply have to know what happens to this dog before committing, read on.
Good Boy puts its canine star through his paces
Directed by Ben Leonberg in his feature directorial debut, “Good Boy” shatters one of horror’s major rules by placing a dog at the center of the terror. That dog is actually Leonberg’s real-life pup, Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever who essentially plays himself in the film. The story follows Indy and his owner, Todd (Shane Jensen) as they move into a long since abandoned family home in the country which used to belong to Todd’s grandfather (legendary indie horror maestro Larry Fessenden, who also had a cameo in “Killers of the Flower Moon”). Once there, Indy immediately senses something is off, and is soon haunted by visions of a demonic creature and a deceased dog that used to belong to the grandfather. Meanwhile, Todd is suffering from some awful sickness, and is slowly unravelling, making him incapable of giving Indy the love and affection any dog needs. That, in and of itself, is one of the most upsetting things in “Good Boy,” as Indy is often left to fend for himself despite being unwaveringly loyal to his ailing owner.
As far as the actual horror goes, though, when Todd and Indy first move to their new home, things soon take a disturbing turn, and not due to any supernatural shenanigans — at least not initially. The first moment dog lovers should be prepared for comes when Todd returns home while suffering from a flare-up of his illness, and shoos Indy away. After the dog keeps trying to get close to his owner Todd reacts angrily, pushing the poor pup away violently in the movie’s first really upsetting scene. Dog owners would be forgiven for tapping out at this moment, but things get worse for Indy.
Indy makes it out of Good Boy alive but at a cost
As “Good Boy” goes on, Indy is drawn to a chair in the attic of the house where Todd’s grandfather passed away, seemingly from the same illness plaguing his grandson. There, the dog witnesses a vision of the grandfather’s tortured demise that causes him to wet the rug, before a creature that looks like my sleep paralysis demon emerges from the basement and appears behind Indy. We then cut to Todd discovering his dog in the basement, covered in dirt and clearly scared.
Something is off with this woodland retreat, so when Todd disappears into the basement, Indy naturally freaks out and escapes the house in search of help. Here, we see him wandering through the woods alone, scared and desperate. All of which would be bad enough, but the next thing we know Indy has become ensnared in one of the many fox traps set up on the land surrounding the house.
When he comes to, Todd has re-emerged but insists upon leaving Indy outside, tethered to his dog house in the pouring rain. Soon after, the nightmarish basement-dwelling figure appears to terrorize Indy once again, only for the dog to escape and find his owner succumbing to his illness. Todd’s eventual demise is dramatized in a scene where he’s pulled into a pit of darkness beneath the house as Indy watches helplessly. Despite his best efforts to save his owner, there was nothing he can do to stop the illness that eventually claimed Todd’s life, leaving the loyal pup bereft by the film’s end.
Rather than being upsetting in a “don’t hurt the dog” way, then, “Good Boy” is really just kind of sad. There’s nothing to uplift in the movie’s denouement, just a loyal dog who loses his owner to an unnamed disease that he can’t ever understand. In a way, then, it’s worse to see Indy survive without his owner to whom he’s remained so loyal throughout the film. Then again, there’s absolutely no way anyone would have forgiven Ben Leonberg for killing off this good boy.
“Good Boy” is now in select theaters.
