‘Good Boy’ review: That’s so fetch

The clever use of heart-pounding tension, cinematic camera angles, and eerie surprises in Good Boy will leave your horror senses happily wagging.

Horror has a new hero in Indy the dog. We’ve seen our fair share of unsuspecting victims face a terrifying ordeal, from hapless teens to romantic paranormal investigators. Each one braves a new terror hidden around every corner, connecting with audiences through their shared fight for survival.

But Good Boy, from IFC and Shudder, flips our Final Boy/Girl expectations on its head with a protagonist who can’t speak. Well, in this case, they can bark. And by the end of Good Boy’s harrowing adventure, you’ll be giving Indy all your a-paws. (My last pun, I swear!)

Without any spoilers, Good Boy focuses on the story of Indy and his human owner, Todd (Shane Jensen), relocating to a vacant family home in the country. What started as a new beginning, things soon turn to terror as Indy notices strange instances lurking around the creepy house. As a mysterious force begins targeting him and Todd, Indy must find a way to save Todd’s life before the evil hidden in the home succeeds.

A dog’s tale.

In Good Boy, director Ben Leonberg (making his feature directorial debut) opted for telling the story through Indy’s perspective. Whereas most films have an anchor that helps guide and explain the developments, having a non-verbal, non-human hero allows audiences to decipher the mystery themselves. In many instances, you’ll be left glued to the screen in the hopes of picking up key details or what Indy may have noticed lurking in the shadows. And believe me when I say, it’s the subtle clues you don’t want to miss that help to round out and foreshadow the story.

To help achieve this filming perspective, the stark change involved camera angles being shifted lower to the ground, fading hints of side conversations, and eerie teases, to name a few. Good Boy puts you into the shoes of Indy, giving you a new look at the world as everything unfolds. But even through these visual cues, Indy’s facial expressions and selective whimpers/barks round out the impact of the scenes.

You would think that a dog couldn’t emote the needed expressions to carry the emotional weight of the film. But Good Boy proves that theory wrong, with a dynamic performance by Indy expressing an emotional range from care to worry to fear. As a viewer, you can easily understand how Indy is feeling in the scene and what that means to the story, without any words. Indy is very clearly a trained dog! Part of the success could stem from this being Leonberg’s own dog, which would add to the familiarity and ease of directing the needed scenes.

Things that go bump in the night.

Good Boy does a great job of peppering clues throughout that tease the shaping story. Every long look down a dark staircase or a creepy sound in the shadows builds the anticipation of what could come next. But the true uncertainty comes from deciphering Indy’s perception. Let’s not forget, he’s a dog, and he’s noticing things we might not see ourselves! There’s a level of determining if Indy is a reliable narrator, and if what we’re seeing is actually what’s happening.

For instance, is that creepy sound in the shadows an evil entity … or could it be just that, a sound? There’s a level of enticing ambiguity in Good Boy that plays with our fears and keeps us on our toes.

This mood is further heightened by Good Boy’s decision to hide the faces of every human. Only Indy is shown in full face throughout the film, centralizing him as the focal point. So, we’re left to wonder how each person is feeling, determining their behavior through actions and plot reveals in the background. But once Good Boy reaches its second half, the momentum kicks up to play on our supernatural appetites. From a horror perspective, Good Boy delivers on a satisfying ending, but there’s room for interpretation to leave you with some questions.

Darkness, my old frenemy.

While the unknown has its benefits, it has its faults too. Good Boy is a dark movie – not just in tone, but in its lighting. Several scenes hinged on the hints of light against the sweeping darkness. There were times when Indy stared at a darkened space, like a corner or stairway, to determine if something was there. However, due to the darkness, you couldn’t tell if the film hinted at something.

Sure, the mystery added to the uneasiness, but there’s a fine line between anticipation/cinematic choice and a pitch-black scene. Good Boy relied on this trope a little too much, even when it made a definitive answer on its villain. Thankfully, the moments where Good Boy perfectly blended darkness and light emphasized the scenes’ undertone, making beautiful visuals in the process. There’s one scene in particular where Indy’s face was half-lit; the scene emphasized his eye and terror as he stared into the darkness. Moments like those added plenty of stunning horror!

In addition to the darkness, some plot decisions will leave you second-guessing. And no, I’m not only talking about Indy being a highly intelligent dog with some very surprising actions. Good Boy peppers in plot points in the background to round out a narrative. However, the film teases atmospheric elements that don’t fully get resolved. A lot of it is left up to interpretation, a possibility for how it’s connected.

While in other cases, some scenes come to an abrupt end – a fade to black. We’re left to move on to the next part, being directed not to answer how it got resolved or how Indy ended up in the next scenario. If you love filling in the gaps and theories, Good Boy gives you the pieces to craft the story. However, if you prefer a more straightforward narrative that spells everything out, you’ll be left in the dark.

The bottom line.

Good Boy is an atmospheric horror tale that explores our fears of what lies in the darkness. Indy the dog does a great job channeling our hero protagonist, creating plenty of emotions to pull us in. Beautiful uses of light and clever camera angles highlight a new perspective for our canine hero. While the overwhelming darkness and open-ended questions left us uncertain, they don’t detract from the heart-pounding experience that Good Boy delivers.

Good Boy is now playing in theaters. Watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy of IFC Films and Shudder. Read more articles by Justin Carreiro here.