It’s going to sound like a gimmick, but let me assure you, it is not.
The new Ben Leonberg-directed/co-written horror film Good Boy has a main character named Indy, who is on vacation with his best friend Todd (Shane Jensen) at the long-empty country home of Todd’s family. They’ve gone there because Todd has had a cancer relapse and is attempting to decide what to do with the remaining time he has left. He’s brought Indy because Indy is devoted and maybe even a little sensitive to certain dark forces which may linger in the house. Indy is also one of the most well-trained dog performers I’ve ever laid witness to. He emotes, he can do action, and he has a way of peering into dark corners with a look that’s both curious and terrified. It’s the perfect performance—animal or otherwise—and Good Boy requires Indy to perceive supernatural forces convincingly and be the affectionate perfect pet to Todd. This dog better at least get nominated.
Once the two have settled into the house, Indy does indeed begin to receive other-worldly warnings from a long-dead dog; he also begins to notice the presence of a goopy figure that is likely the home’s previous owner who died gruesomely some years earlier. Todd’s sickness makes him susceptible to dark energy, and he slowly begins to succumb to the forces within the house. And while Indy can’t save his human owner, he does intend on saving his soul from becoming corrupted before he passes into the afterlife.
Good Boy is the story of nobility in the face of death, but it also gets genuinely scary throughout, with director Leonberg showing us that he knows how to make a dark corner utterly creepy and put everyone on edge. But it’s his ability to capture Indy’s performance that really keeps you locked into the emotion and keeps the film powering forward. I was genuinely shocked at how effective this film is and how deeply invested I became in these characters, especially the one covered in fur. Seek this one out, because it’s easily one of the best horror experiences I’ve had this year.
The film is now playing in theaters, including the Music Box Theatre and AMC River East.
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