Movie review of the supernatural horror about a loyal dog who must protect his owner from a malevolent spirit. Directed by Ben Leonberg.

Synopsis

Indy is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (‘Tolle’) dog, loved and loyal to his owner, Josh (Shane Jensen). Josh has a serious lung ailment and after a period in hospital, moves to his grandfather’s isolated, rural family home with his owner.

Already sensing a negative presence around them, Indy discovers a malignant, supernatural force lurking in the shadows at home and outside, following them. As the dark entities threaten Josh, the brave dog must fight to protect the one he loves most.

Review, by @Reelreviewer (X)/@cinesocialUK (Insta)/ @reelreviewer (TikTok)

My relatives… they all died pretty young, too.

Here’s a tantalising morsel of possible Hollywood lore – the first winner of the Best Actor Oscar might not have been a dog.

According to author Susan Orlean (‘Adaptation’), the hugely famous star of canine rescue movies, Rin Tin Tin, was supposed to receive that most famous of cinema gongs.

Sensing public relations catastrophe in their nascent life, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences opted for the runner-up – the Swiss-German and distinctly more human star Emil Jannings – thus avoiding any sniggers.

True or not – this claim isn’t verified – it leads us bang up to the modern day as canine performers receive official citation and praise for their ‘acting’:

• Palm Dog Award: Presented annually by international film critics during the Cannes Film Festival
• FIDO Awards (For Incredible Dogs On Screen)
• The Golden Collar Awards
• The PATSY Awards (Picture Animal Top Star of the Year).

This year, in an historic milestone, the Astra Film Awards named Indie (the canine star of Good Boy) Best Performance in a Horror or Thriller, competing directly alongside human actors.

Indy is a real dog – he belongs to director Leonberg, co-producer/wife Kari Fisher – and was shot over 400 days across three years using training, treats and his own natural behaviours. There is no CGI or AI trickery.

No wonder he had such close attention – the film is all about him and all his, and he absolutely ‘claws’ (nails?!) it.

It’s a good job, too, because the human actors have next to nothing to do, other than give Indy the right prompts. You don’t even see their faces as they are obscured by shadows, seen from behind, or hidden by the roof of a car. This helps us identify quickly with Indy and get into his mind and observations. You only see Josh’s face near the end of the film for an obvious reason.

That’s one of two downsides to this otherwise terrifically chilling and subtly scary film (there are no big jump scares; it works by stealth). The scenes with the human actors lack impact (again, for obvious reasons), and you want them gone to focus on Indy again.

The ‘old dark house’ tricks also run out of steam. Even in a film that is only an hour and thirteen minutes long, there are only so many old doors creaking, leaves rustling, wind howling, and lights flickering you can use.

Still, Leonberg creates a uniquely chilling and gripping atmosphere throughout, dropping tell-tale signs throughout that these malevolent spirits have been around for a while (“there’s nothing there!” Josh says to Indy during a walk in the park – but is there?) and possibly are the cause of his lung disease.

When he returns to the family home vacated by his deceased grandfather (also of lung disease), he notes during a walk in the local cemetery, “(these are) my relatives… they all died pretty young, too” – his grandfather clearly died before his natural time; did the evil spirits claim him and his ancestors?

Grandad also had a loyal dog (a Golden Retriever) who died alongside him but returns from beyond the grave to make sure Indy knows what to do to save Josh and break this family curse.

Watching Indy painstakingly make sense of the signs he’s picking up on, with close-ups of his gorgeous face as he does everything he can to help the one person he loves in the world avoid the same fate, is deeply moving. I’m a dog owner (I have a Mini-Dachshund called Adolphus) so Good Boy resonated with me; it almost broke my heart.

If anything, Good Boy makes you appreciate ‘man’s best friend’ by going through his eyes, and vision is key for this film. Dogs see the world in just blue and yellow colours and hues, blurrier and wider than humans, but they excel at detecting motion and seeing in the dark. Leonberg keeps his colour palette relatively bland and focuses on light and dark, so Indy is hyper-alert to the shifting shapes and shadows that his poor but beloved Josh is oblivious to.

See the official IFC Films trailer.

Cast & credits

Director: Ben Leonberg. 1h 12mins / 72 mins. What’s Wrong With Your Dog?/Independent Film Company et al. (15).

Producers: Kari Fischer, Ben Leonberg.
Writers: Alex Cannon, Ben Leonberg.
Camera: Ben Leonberg.
Music: Sam Boase-Miller.
Sets: Alison Diviney.

Indy, Shane Jensen, Arielle Friedman, Larry Fessenden, Stuart Rudin, Hunter Goetz, Anya Krawcheck.