There is a brief scene in “Good Boy,” the ingenious canine horror film by Ben Leonberg, that takes us inside the mind of a dreaming dog. The four-legged friend is experiencing a nightmare, haunted by an aberration stalking him. The moment lasts for a few seconds, pulling us away from the human world into something secretive and unknowable. Though I wish this brisk 72-minute film did more to explore the perspective of its protagonist—Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever—the arresting sequence points to the temporary flights of imagination that make “Good Boy,” a Shudder and IFC release, into a transportive work.
See, “Good Boy” could easily devolve into merely being a gimmick. But Alex Cannon and Leonberg’s dialogue-light script is aiming for more than DTV silliness. They’re making a movie about heart, loyalty, and friendship.
From the beginning, we can sense that Indy and his owner, Todd (Shane Jensen), are in danger. At the film’s outset, Todd’s sister finds her brother unconscious, with blood dripping from his mouth. When Todd leaves the hospital, he decides to abscond to his deceased grandfather’s woodland home with Indy. While there, Todd softly coughs and sometimes wheezes as he lumbers around the humble but spooky home. Todd’s visage is often obscured by shadows while the rest of his frame is seen from Indy’s eye level, usually from the torso down. That means we’re also witnessing the cold, windy home and eerie forest from Indy’s eyes, making for a film that often relies on the sensorial to garner frights.
Most of this haunted house film relies on bumps in the night to provide its primary scares. Indy’s sensitive hearing locates many sounds: creaky doors, sharp thuds, and gnarly screeches. His nose also picks up the scent of potential foes. Both cause him to whimper, especially as Todd becomes more and more erratic. You come to wonder how much of this is in Indy’s head. After all, he’s a dog. So is he a reliable narrator? With that thought in mind, you also question if maybe Indy’s stressed to the point of conjuring these specters.
“Good Boy” frequently muddies reality. Todd spends his days watching VHS tapes featuring his grandfather (Larry Fessenden) sharing tips for taxidermy. He also watches C-level horror films. As Leonberg blends those pieces of media together, he introduces a neighboring camouflage hunter and a ghoul made of mud and bile, whose respective potential for deception is high. Curtis Roberts’s agile editing supports the shaky environment Indy occupies, as does Wade Grebnoel’s winking cinematography. Both elements, particularly as Indy’s wanderings through the dark house are translated into long tracking takes that turn every corner, hallway, and room into a potential site for fear.
Once you get the wavelength “Good Boy” is operating on, you do feel it losing steam. This film probably could’ve been equally as effective as a 40-minute short rather than a feature; there’s only so many times you can hammer home the same metaphor or hit the same bumps in the night before the entire exercise becomes monotonous. Still, the last twenty minutes of Leonberg’s horror flick do stick the landing by transplanting Indy’s fears and protectiveness into an intense race to save Todd. Also, Indy is just an expressive, wonderful pup whose searching eyes and keen movement keep us invested even when we become quite familiar with this film’s bag of tricks.
Because of Indy’s naturalistic approach, the level of his character’s success in protecting his owner from demons and sickness–there’s no greater horror for a pup than losing their owner–isn’t really the point. Instead, “Good Boy” operates from the perspective that Indy’s strenuous efforts, powered by his undaunted loyalty, are what matter. By the end, Indy and this movie deserve a treat.
