Chris Knipp
10-19-2025, 06:59 PM
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INDY IN GOOD BOY
BEN LEONBERG: GOOD BOY (2025)
Filmmaker stars his own dog in his debut scary movie
TRAILER (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4-CRkd_74g)
Indy, the director's dog, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, really is the star of this film, which is more or less entirely from the canine point of view. His master, known as Todd (Shane Jensen), is seen throughout from below, long and thin, towering above, his face not clearly visible. Probably to Indy Todd's smell is far more important, but in the absence of Smellovision, we get only suggestions of that and sniffing sounds that show us important and uneasy scents are in the air of this horror film.
At a "Scary Movies" series this summer at Lincoln Center including Good Boy, the director Ben Leonberg's debut was presented with a perceptive blurb (https://www.filmlinc.org/films/good-boy/) about dogs and horror film. "When it comes to filling the role of horror-film protagonist," the blurb said, "dogs could be considered the platonic ideal. Equipped with heightened senses and a preternatural knack for perceiving (if not understanding) subtle environmental changes, they’re mute witnesses to all manner of lurking threats, more sensitive to things that go 'bump' in the night than their human companions." This pinpoints what is special and logical in Leonberg's casting his own favorite canine in the lead role of his debut film.
This is a thoroughly conventional horror movie cast unconventionally, providing an inherent freshness further enhanced by a low budget DIY methodology that gives conventional features - lurid monsters, scary sounds, a rainy graveyard, a howling storm - a more vivid look that avoids the obvious and makes this feel almost like an art film. The several monsters who appear are likewise gorgeous to look at, lacking false slickness and instead skillfully handcrafted. Terror here assumes a new identity conveyed by the limitations of the canine mind. Trapped in a dog's body, we are once again frightened at the old things. Indy cannot "speak" except to whimper, whine, howl or bark and lacks the knowledge to analyse the situation or to articulate his very real perceptions of its dangers.
This anyway is a knowledge that may not well serve us either. For what can we know? Fear in horror movies, their motive force, comes from the unknown. What in the world is wrong with Todd? He seems to have a history of respiratory problems, with coughing blood, but his "illness" may ultimately be supernatural possession. When he is released from hospital early on, he chooses to go to a family house in the country to convalesce, and is argumentative and abusive toward his sister Vera (Ariele Friedman) when she objects to his locating himself so far out of the way. He also objects to Indy's evident concerns once they arrive. Indy clearly doesn't like this new place or anything about it. Todd is understanding about Indy's skittishness in the family cemetery. That's spooky - all those dead people. Man and dog are certainly very close. The breed is a relatively compact one and sometimes Todd picks up Indy to comfort or cuddle with him. But the canine protagonist's ultimate heroism and loyalty show once Todd's illness, or possession, becomes advanced and he turns hostile and abusive, at one point chaining him to a doghouse outside in the howling storm.
We know we've had it pretty early on when we see B-movie veteran Larry Fessenden as Todd's grandpa in videos explaining about his taxidermies and noting that six generations of this family have died in this house, usually when young, and wondering at his own judgment in choosing to move here. Todd is doomed, and his faithful retriever is also doomed, bound faithful to him to the end without really being able to help.
What is the point of it all? As with any genre film, small variations in style, and in this case obviously, fresh point of view. There are obvious limitations to this. Hence even though this is a film of only 72 minutes, it becomes a little repetitious. If there are subtleties to a canine point of view that we do not perceive and a human cannot convey, Good Boy necessarily must fall short in depicting them. On the other hand, it's remarkable what Indy and his handlers, and his owner the director, are able to do. I was surprised to learn that this was all done with a single dog and not a pro, but an "amateur." In every moment Indy conveys the feeling the filmmakers want him to convey, makes the moves desired, hits his marks. And Indy is very appealing without ever being exploited as cute or pathetic.
This is the perfect film for the horror fan who is ready for a bit of experimentation - but not too much - and who is also a dog lover. And besides, this debut by director Leonberg promises good things to come.
Good Dog, 72 mins., premiered at Austin (SXSW) Mar. 8, 2025, shown also at Melbourne, Lincoln Center (NYC), and Fantasy Filmfest (Germany). It has since opened in many countries; on Oct. 3, 2025 in the US. Screened for this review at Cinemark Hilltop, Richmond CA, Oct. 19, 2025. Metacritic (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/good-boy-2025/) rating: 73%.
INDY IN GOOD BOY
BEN LEONBERG: GOOD BOY (2025)
Filmmaker stars his own dog in his debut scary movie
TRAILER (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4-CRkd_74g)
Indy, the director's dog, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, really is the star of this film, which is more or less entirely from the canine point of view. His master, known as Todd (Shane Jensen), is seen throughout from below, long and thin, towering above, his face not clearly visible. Probably to Indy Todd's smell is far more important, but in the absence of Smellovision, we get only suggestions of that and sniffing sounds that show us important and uneasy scents are in the air of this horror film.
At a "Scary Movies" series this summer at Lincoln Center including Good Boy, the director Ben Leonberg's debut was presented with a perceptive blurb (https://www.filmlinc.org/films/good-boy/) about dogs and horror film. "When it comes to filling the role of horror-film protagonist," the blurb said, "dogs could be considered the platonic ideal. Equipped with heightened senses and a preternatural knack for perceiving (if not understanding) subtle environmental changes, they’re mute witnesses to all manner of lurking threats, more sensitive to things that go 'bump' in the night than their human companions." This pinpoints what is special and logical in Leonberg's casting his own favorite canine in the lead role of his debut film.
This is a thoroughly conventional horror movie cast unconventionally, providing an inherent freshness further enhanced by a low budget DIY methodology that gives conventional features - lurid monsters, scary sounds, a rainy graveyard, a howling storm - a more vivid look that avoids the obvious and makes this feel almost like an art film. The several monsters who appear are likewise gorgeous to look at, lacking false slickness and instead skillfully handcrafted. Terror here assumes a new identity conveyed by the limitations of the canine mind. Trapped in a dog's body, we are once again frightened at the old things. Indy cannot "speak" except to whimper, whine, howl or bark and lacks the knowledge to analyse the situation or to articulate his very real perceptions of its dangers.
This anyway is a knowledge that may not well serve us either. For what can we know? Fear in horror movies, their motive force, comes from the unknown. What in the world is wrong with Todd? He seems to have a history of respiratory problems, with coughing blood, but his "illness" may ultimately be supernatural possession. When he is released from hospital early on, he chooses to go to a family house in the country to convalesce, and is argumentative and abusive toward his sister Vera (Ariele Friedman) when she objects to his locating himself so far out of the way. He also objects to Indy's evident concerns once they arrive. Indy clearly doesn't like this new place or anything about it. Todd is understanding about Indy's skittishness in the family cemetery. That's spooky - all those dead people. Man and dog are certainly very close. The breed is a relatively compact one and sometimes Todd picks up Indy to comfort or cuddle with him. But the canine protagonist's ultimate heroism and loyalty show once Todd's illness, or possession, becomes advanced and he turns hostile and abusive, at one point chaining him to a doghouse outside in the howling storm.
We know we've had it pretty early on when we see B-movie veteran Larry Fessenden as Todd's grandpa in videos explaining about his taxidermies and noting that six generations of this family have died in this house, usually when young, and wondering at his own judgment in choosing to move here. Todd is doomed, and his faithful retriever is also doomed, bound faithful to him to the end without really being able to help.
What is the point of it all? As with any genre film, small variations in style, and in this case obviously, fresh point of view. There are obvious limitations to this. Hence even though this is a film of only 72 minutes, it becomes a little repetitious. If there are subtleties to a canine point of view that we do not perceive and a human cannot convey, Good Boy necessarily must fall short in depicting them. On the other hand, it's remarkable what Indy and his handlers, and his owner the director, are able to do. I was surprised to learn that this was all done with a single dog and not a pro, but an "amateur." In every moment Indy conveys the feeling the filmmakers want him to convey, makes the moves desired, hits his marks. And Indy is very appealing without ever being exploited as cute or pathetic.
This is the perfect film for the horror fan who is ready for a bit of experimentation - but not too much - and who is also a dog lover. And besides, this debut by director Leonberg promises good things to come.
Good Dog, 72 mins., premiered at Austin (SXSW) Mar. 8, 2025, shown also at Melbourne, Lincoln Center (NYC), and Fantasy Filmfest (Germany). It has since opened in many countries; on Oct. 3, 2025 in the US. Screened for this review at Cinemark Hilltop, Richmond CA, Oct. 19, 2025. Metacritic (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/good-boy-2025/) rating: 73%.