My Review of Good Boy (2025)

 

Written by Alex Cannon And Ben Leonberg

Directed by Ben Leonberg

Todd (to Indy): "You're a good boy but you can't save me."

One of the most creative horror films of the year just came out and of course, I needed to see it. An entire movie based on the perspective of a dog. Did it work? Well, yeah actually.

The dog in question being the adorable Indy (also the dog's name in real life). Indy had an owner named Todd (Shane Jensen). Todd suffered from a chronic lung disease and throughout the movie was particularly tetchy towards his concerned sister, Vera (Arielle Friedman) who just wanted to help him.

It's revealed in the movie early enough that Todd and Vera's grandfather (Larry Fessenden) died and Todd inherited the grandfather's house. It's also largely hinted that the house was cursed. That was something Todd chose to ignore along with his ailing condition.

As the movie progressed, Indy could see a sinister presence stalking Todd but his attempts to warn his owner were constantly ignored. It even got to the point where Todd was outright mean to everyone he encountered, including Indy. It really should go without saying that Todd should've listened to Indy.

Having Indy as the protagonist made it impossible to dislike or be critical of Indy. Indy did everything he could do to try and help Todd but the latter realised far too late that there was a dark figure in the house. 

Seeing as it's a horror film, someone had to die and while it wasn't Indy, it was still really sad seeing the poor dog lose his owner to the dark figure. Add in Vera's grief over finding her brother and this movie ended on a genuinely sad note.

- Not only was Indy named after himself but he's the director's real life dog.

- The movie took over 400 days to film. I loved some of the old footage they used for Indy, including him as a puppy.

- There's another film with the same title but a far different premise that is also being released soon, so that'll make looking for it online fun.

- Chronology: Present day. Todd relocated from New York to the woods where everything happened.

At 72 minutes long, Good Boy was a movie that didn't overstay it's welcome or feel too gimmicky. A great performance from Indy and some genuinely unsettling and poignant moments certainly made this a delightful watch.

Rating: 8 out of 10