Good Boy (2025)    IFC/Horror    RT: 73 minutes    Rated PG-13 (terror, bloody images and strong language)    Director: Ben Leonberg    Screenplay: Alex Cannon and Ben Leonberg    Music: Sam Boase-Miller    Cinematography: Wade Grebnoel    Release date: October 3, 2025 (US)    Cast: Indy, Shane Jensen, Arielle Friedman, Larry Fessenden, Stuart Rudin, Hunter Goetz, Anya Krawcheck, Max, Noah Manzoor.

Rating: *** ½

 What film has been getting the most buzz so far this fall? It’s not the Taylor Swift album release party. It’s not Demon Slayer. It’s not even One Battle After Another. It’s Good Boy, an independent horror movie in which the protagonist is a dog. That’s right, a dog. The action is seen entirely from his perspective. We don’t even get a good look at any of the human characters. It’s different, I’ll give it that. It’s also pretty good.

 So here’s the thing about Good Boy. It’s technically a horror film. It has a malevolent entity. It contains moments of terror. It has a couple of effective “BOO!” scenes. HOWEVER, it goes in a different direction. It’s not the usual claptrap. It transcends the genre. It’s scary and unsettling, but what initially looks cliched really isn’t. It isn’t what horror fans will be expecting. Not all of them anyway. I figured it out about midway through and I’m sure a few other cinephiles will too, but a vast majority of moviegoers will likely not see it coming.

 I’m sure the main question on everybody’s mind concerns the fate of the pooch. I’m going to go ahead and answer that for the benefit of dog lovers everywhere. The dog does NOT die nor is he badly injured even though he comes face to face with a malevolent entity. That’s the only spoiler you’ll get out of me.

 The star of Good Boy is Indy, a reddish-brown Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever with the most expressive eyes you’ll ever see. He belongs to the director Ben Leonberg making his feature film debut here. If there was any reason for the Academy to create a new category (Best Canine Performance), this is it! Indy is absolutely incredible as the four-legged protagonist who knows something his owner doesn’t, namely that they’re not alone where they are.

 Good Boy operates on the well-known premise that dogs sense things humans cannot. They see things in the darkness and hear things in the silence. Indy immediately knows something’s amiss in the cabin that once belonged to his owner’s late grandfather. They go there after the owner finds out he’s terminally ill with chronic lung disease. It’s a creepy place deep in the woods. Indy often sees visions of another dog and a dark gooey ghoul. His sensitive hearing picks up sounds like creaky doors and sharp thuds. It freaks him out. His owner Todd, whose health and sanity deteriorate rapidly, is completely oblivious to the eerie goings-on.

 It would have been easy for Leonberg to let Good Boy devolve into a gimmicky horror film with the dog’s POV, but he allows it to be more than that while keeping the narrative on a short leash. Indy is more than a faithful canine companion; he’s an actual character with feelings and fears. He’s stressed over his human’s increasingly erratic behavior which includes some mild abuse (e.g. being pushed away, being put on a chain outside). Indy’s understanding is limited yet he seems to know what’s going on and will fight to protect his human no matter what.

 I believe the word to describe the technical aspects of Good Boy– in particular, the cinematography by Wade Grebnoel and editing by Curtis Roberts- is masterful. The fear is ratcheted up to level 11 in the long tracking shots of Indy walking through the dark, creepy house not knowing what lurks around the bend or in the shadows. Then Leonberg takes it to 12 by having Indy’s owner watch videos of old B&W horror movies. The feeling of dread throughout is palpable.

 What Leonberg ultimately does with Good Boy goes beyond making an effective minimalist horror movie. It’s about more than a demonic entity stalking a dog and his human. It’s about loyalty, heart and friendship. A dog will lay down his or her life for their owner. Good Boy perfectly illustrates this fact better than any goofy family movie about a boy and his dog. It’s really something to see.

P.S. Wanna know what really grinds my gears? A clever, original horror movie like Good Boy gets relegated to a limited release while a piece of s*** like Him plays everywhere. That’s industry mentality for you.