Indy the Dog tries to protect his owner from malicious forces in Ben Leonberg’s impressive but slight Good Boy.
Content Warning for Good Boy: Animal danger and death, Depression, abuse, suicidal tendencies.
Pets can be weird. They can stare into the corner, looking at something we can’t see. Reacting to smells, sights, and sounds outside of our range. Maybe it’s just the noises of the house. Bugs in the walls. Lingering smells from last night’s burgers. Perhaps our cats are just messing with us because it’s fun.
Or maybe it’s something terrible, looking to hurt or kill the humans in the animal’s life. Good Boy fetches the concept; the dog is the line of defense between an oblivious human and the malevolent entity. Indy the Dog, fantastic canine star, knows something is wrong in the secluded cabin his owner has held up in. Despite a premise that sounds like “Courage the Cowardly Dog, but real,” Good Boy is in no way a light, comic film using the “dog as hero” concept, but a serious film using its unique perspective to explore sickness, depression, and death. It’s a small, sad, and scary film. Written by Leonberg with Alex Cannon, it just happens to have a dog as the lead.
It mostly works. Good Boy is a truly scary film. It’s impressive how Leonberg shoots for full effect. Shane Jensen brings a broken intensity in Indy’s terrors as his owner deals with … something. There’s an uncomfortable atmosphere as we watch Indy try to figure out what’s going on. Not just watching with Indy as the main character, he’s the point of view. Humans are just out of focus, no faces. Human conversations are snippets. We know more than Indy being human and all, but what we see is terrifying. Without showing the film’s tricks, it’s more than a mere spirit. In many ways, the film is about depression and disease. This provides more for the overall plot. But shifting from direct “evil ghost” to “maybe sickness manifestation” takes a little out of it since it takes action off of Indy.
It might be me, wanting a more solid resolution and understanding. Horror stalwart Larry Fessenden is a previous owner of the cabin, and what happens to him and his dog, and how it affects Indy and his owner, is a big question mark. I get it, Indy doesn’t know, so we don’t. I don’t mind a vague terror, but we’re left at a level where we have some information. So it’s a frustrating middle level.
At a mere 73 minutes, I appreciate Leonberg keeping it tight, not overdoing it, and not over-expanding the premise. And indeed, what does work works incredibly well. There is a repetition in many of the scare sequences in the manner of “something in the background… oh it’s gone… oh it’s CLOSER” that is overused. But the atmosphere around the world itself is oppressive and depressive. I was just as sad for Indy as I was scared for him. Indy is a great conduit for an emotional throughfare in the film.
Indy is indeed a good boy. The best boy. It’s a weird thing to say, but Indy the dog gives a truly magnificent performance as the central figure. True, he was specifically trained for this film and is the director’s own dog. But he performs with a naturalness that doesn’t feel like he’s reacting to a treat held just off-screen. It’s an incredible feat. He’s a natural. One reason the film is short is that they worked with him on his schedule, filming for 400 days. There is no whiff of using Indy for show or harm to get a performance.
Good Boy is a scary, small film. It doesn’t overuse the concept, but also doesn’t quite reach a comfortable completeness. Indy the Dog is a real animal star and gives a commanding canine performance.