Good Boy is the feature film directorial debut of Ben Leonberg, who has previously worked on a few short film projects dating back as far as 2009. To add his own flair to this movie, Leonberg cast his very own dog as the main character. While the movie is more style than scare, it is a unique and memorable addition to the horror genre.
Good Boy is comparable to a haunted house movie. It follows a dog named Indy and his owner Todd. But, unlike most dog-centered movies, the main character in Good Boy is very simply that… just a dog. No human, no schizophrenic one at that—just a pup experiencing spooks firsthand. Over the course of the 1-hour and 12-minute movie, you view the entire storyline from Indy’s perspective. This realistic approach towards a dog as a character adds to the complexity of the work and creates an even more compelling horror movie.
Due to the movie being set in the view and experience of a dog, not many words are spoken throughout the movie. But the vast majority of the words that are spoken are by Todd to other characters, with very little of the script spoken to Indy himself. This lack of words adds both to the suspense of each and every scene in the film and to the amount of Indy’s fear that is perceived by the viewer.
Dog owners all over the world share the same experience of their dog staring at what appears to be nothing and presenting almost human-like paranoia. But for Todd, Indy’s staring is eerily appropriate. After moving into his family’s hand-me-down two-story house in the woods. Indy is already visibly anxious, nervous about the deep time at night and the rain during the time of arrival. Still, Todd assures Indy that it is safe here and figures out sleeping arrangements for him and Indy for the night.
Following up on his assurances in the morning, Todd introduces Indy to the area around the house. Including the family’s private cemetery, in which his grandfather and many other generations before him who have died in the very same house lie. Indy’s emotions throughout the introduction to the house and land around it are very intense; he is genuinely both worried and observant.
The camera work throughout this film is incredibly fear-inducing; the shots hold for long periods of time, and they pan from Indy’s point of view to what is happening around him. Plus, the film’s production time was no joke—spanning over three years, the film has many impressive feats.
Ben Leonberg goes in-depth about how the movie was filmed in a short video that plays at the end of the movie. Sadly, this video is unavailable elsewhere, but he uses it to display how just one singular shot took a whole day of filming to get right. Fortunately, for more insight, Mashable’s movie and show reviewers have analyzed his work separately in their own YouTube video, titled, “How They Made ‘Good Boy’ Starring (Essentially) Only A Dog.”
The time and effort put into bring Good Boy to life alone justifies giving it the large audience it deserves, but it’s also very entertaining. All fans of both horror and dogs will enjoy this insanely impressive film thanks to Leonberg’s dedication at crafting emotional scenes and Indy’s natural talent as a doggone good actor.
