Once again, innovation strikes in the horror genre with Good Boy (now streaming on Hulu, in addition to VOD platforms like Amazon Prime Video), a clever little thriller told entirely from the perspective of a dog. Director Ben Leonberg cast his own pup, Indy, in the title role, and goes so far as to speculate a bit about how a dog might see the world differently from humans – and it’s more than just butt-sniffing and Milk Bones. If you’ve ever wondered why your dog seems to be staring at nothing in the corner over there, well, Leonberg presents a theory, and it’s pretty compelling.
GOOD BOY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: It doesn’t happen until fairly deep into the movie, but I need to declare this right away: The It’s Only A Dream rug-pulling gimmick is only acceptable when it’s a dog dream. In fact, the dog in this story, Indy, sometimes experiences the world like he’s in a David Lynch film – things sometimes don’t make sense from our human POV. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here. Indy’s owner is Todd (Shane Jensen), who we first meet slumped over on the couch, unconscious and drooling blood. He appears to have some sort of chronic lung condition. Todd’s sister Vera (Arielle Friedman) takes him to the hospital, and even brings Indy for a visit. It’s worth noting that the camera tends to stay knee-high, and we rarely see a human’s unobscured face in the film. We see what Indy sees, or we watch Indy’s highly expressive eyes as he looks at things. What is he thinking? Well, go ahead, start your theorizin’.
After he gets out of the hospital, Todd relocates to his late grandfather’s house deep in the woods, on a what? Yes: A dark and stormy night. It’s a bit leaky over here, cozy over there, and creaky and creepy in plenty of places, especially the basement and the room that’s loaded with taxidermy. Gramps had a thing for stuffing animals, and making home movies; the place is stuffed with VHS tapes, which Todd loads into an old top-loader VCR to watch on a battered tube TV set that’s so ancient, it has two big ugly knobs next to the screen and you probably have to shovel coal into the back of it. Vera thinks the house is “cursed,” since Grandpa died in a strange, but unspecified manner. The family cemetery is on the property, and as he and Indy explore it, Todd notes that many of his relatives died young. Hmm. They meet the neighbor on the trail, and he’s dressed head-to-toe in hunter’s camouflage. He warns them to avoid his fox traps, and laments the loss of Grandpa, adding, “After we found the body, we never did find his dog.”
Meanwhile, Indy keeps sensing something in the house. Bumps in the night, doors opening unassisted, shadowy figures – classic jump-scare phenomena. One night a scary something is chasing him and Indy doesn’t jolt awake from the nightmare; his eyes pop open in close-up. The imagery from the dream blurs into reality as a sinister figure emerges from the shadows. It’s man-shaped, covered with mud, and reaches his dripping hand toward Indy. In one scene, Indy whizzes uncontrollably on the rug and then we cut to Todd finding the pup covered in filth, hiding in the basement. Todd puts Indy in the tub and just as the muck is all rinsed off, Todd begins puking blood. The scary shit continues as Todd’s health declines precariously. We understand what’s happening, but does Indy? He seems to be experiencing this situation in a completely different way. I mean, he’s no anthropomorph. He’s a real dog.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: We’ve seen ghost POVs in Presence and A Ghost Story, and a slasher POV in In A Violent Nature. We’ve also heard the “voices” of animals and babies in the Look Who’s Talking films, but Good Boy ain’t having none of that.
Performance Worth Watching: HOW does this dog with the sandy-brown fur and highly expressive, heart-melting eyes not know he’s acting in a movie?
Memorable Dialogue: Is the line Todd utters when he finds filthy Indy in the cellar a clue to what’s happening here? “You smell like death,” he says.
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: We know dogs can sense things that we can’t – some can smell the hormones and chemical compounds that indicate cancer, pregnancy and even fear. But can they see, hear, smell spirit-world thingies and whatchamajigs that make humans sound like woo-woo spouting boobs? That’s a tougher sell. I bought it, though, because Leonberg wisely doesn’t speculate beyond the pale, and while he renders the narrative in such a way as to allow individual viewers to color Indy’s experiences with their own, I interpreted it in a pragmatic way: What Indy sees isn’t necessarily a maleficent creature, but a metaphor for death itself. It sure seems to be knocking on Todd’s door, considering many of his family members met an early demise – although how, again, is never specified.
Since Good Boy bullseyes the canine POV, it features very little meaningful dialogue, and is driven almost wholly by its visuals. It’s absolutely cinematic in that way, Leonberg keeping us alert and curious about how he’s going to broaden Indy’s perspective, blurring recognizable reality with the weird stuff on Grandpa’s VHS tapes, the oogy goings-on in the basement and the surreal content of Indy’s dreams. The director enhances the atmosphere by giving us an approximation of a dog’s enhanced, highly sensitive hearing – the rustles and twig-snaps of forest noise, the creaks and moans that we attribute to old houses settling. The unique POV also prompts us to ponder Indy’s “emotional” proclivities, pushing Good Boy into deeply wholesome territory, musing on notions of loyalty, protectiveness and unconditional love. It’s not just an innovative film, or one that balances the scary with the cute – it’s heartbreaking, too.
Our Call: Woof? No way! STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.