Directed By Ben Leonberg

Starring – Indy, Shane Jensen, Arielle Friedman

The Plot – A loyal dog (Indy) moves to a rural family home with his owner (Jensen), only to discover supernatural forces lurking in the shadows. As dark entities threaten his human companion, the brave pup must fight to protect the one he loves most.

Rated PG-13 for terror, bloody images and strong adult language.

Good Boy – Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films

POSITIVES

In an age where people irresponsibly assess that Hollywood has run out of creative original ideas for feature length films, along comes “Good Boy”, a horror movie from a dog’s perspective that not only effectively capitalizes on one of the most daringly challenging concepts that I have experienced in quite sometime, but also represents an artistic breakthrough for Ben Leonberg, a director who up until now has carved his name making short films. From a framing aspect, the movie is shot ambitiously tight from the vantage point of the dog’s perspective, involving facial likenesses of human characters mostly obscured from the proximity of the camera, all in order to candidly commit to the gimmick, and while this could easily grow tediously repetitive with the claustrophobic confines of insight that we as an audience are given to contextualize, it’s surprisingly quite the opposite, as Leonberg taps into the ages old theory that dog’s can spot things supernaturally, allowing us to meet Indy at eye level, even while pursuing him limitlessly with the spontaneous speeds that he exercises in evading the darkness that goes bump in the night. Almost immediately, it’s easy to coherently interpret that something deeper is at stake here than simply just another haunted house narrative, especially with vital details about Indy’s owner that are revealed during the opening scenes of the movie, and while this ultimately makes it unavoidably predictable with where the narrative arc will finish between these to characters, it never skimps on the emotionality of the conflict, zeroing in on the isolation factors that Indy continuously faces, while capably evading the manipulation tactics that so many dogs movies shamelessly indulge in. If Leonberg is good at articulating anything about his film, it’s the unwavering dedication and support that dogs have for their human counterparts, a fact that is put to the test with the various interactions between Indy and his owner depicting the inconsistency of their relationship. While we’ve all been guilty to some degree of being mad or disappointed in our pets, the anger bouts elicited casually here from said owner made me want to jump into the screen and punch him directly in the face, even if appropriately motivated by such an undesirably scary situation that all but justifies his onslaught of anger towards Indy, but the resiliency of the dog makes him an ideal protagonist against the forces of evil, opening up the actor behind the character towards one of the year’s most intensely unbridled performances, and I’m not embellishing even slightly on that claim. If the academy gave out awards for non-human characters, Indy would pretty much have it locked up, not only for the fits of frantic hysteria that he delivers consistently during vulnerably plaguing conflicts, but also the focus and persistence of his stares in trying to continuously piece together just what is persisting in the imagery that he’s seeing in the human world. To some degree, a decent amount of the credit definitely falls directly on Leonberg’s shoulders, who constantly ratchets Indy’s influence to the emotionality to a scene to eleven, at all times, but Indy’s various dimensional deliveries are especially dramatic for an animal actor of his kind, especially with very little help from his human co-stars, and he vividly conveys the panic and uncertainty that lurks in this house, long before he’s had a chance to spend a night in it, and I for one think it’s time that we start celebrating animals as the captivating forces of energy that they are to this and every other film centering around them. On top of all of this, if you’re someone who values your time to be put to good use, even in the cinematic immersion of cinema, there’s surprisingly not a lot of it involved with “Good Boy”, summarizing the year’s shortest feature length investment to 72 minutes of screentime, that not only maintains the importance of each scene assembled, but also the urgency of the proverbial clock that Indy and his human master are unknowingly working against. I admire greatly when a movie refuses to overstay its welcome, even at the cost of some additional allowance for storytelling that the movie all but demands in the tacked-on additions of subplots during the second act, but there’s something to be said for the simplicity of the destination never exceeding the length of the journey, and because of such I never felt even remotely challenged or bored by the movie’s pacing, instead remaining firmly invested to the depths of this familiar dynamic, that refused to waste time with excessive exposition or unnecessary prolonging.

NEGATIVES

Despite my expectations deduced to a minimal with this unconventional idea, I did find some aspects of the execution to be noticeably lacking, particularly the thrills and chills of the movie’s horror elements, which ineffectively conjured something unsettling from a dog’s perspective. While I think the reason for this falls squarely on the aspect of having a cute and cuddly puppy at the movie’s forefront, even the lack of ominous atmosphere feels distinguishably palpable, where regardless of how long that a shot lingers at the dark and the mental manipulation of possible shadow-play, there was nothing even close to uncomfortable that could’ve taken this gimmick to the next level with its audience. On top of this, some of the glaringly evident strings of cheap production persist in the consistency of the execution, particularly the C.G-heavy effects of the lurking creatures, as well as some unexplored avenues of expression, that could’ve elicited a far greater significance to the air of the gimmick than what we’re ultimately given. While the former isn’t as harmful as the latter, considering the rarity of screen time the supernatural essence is given to the engagement, the latter makes me wonder what might’ve been from a film offering such a uniquely creative perspective in its framing device, with more options to the sound mixing and colorizing of the visuals, in order to convey a deeper resonance to its canine captivity. It’s the single most obvious evidence for the lack of studio support that threatens to condemn the project, even in such a small scale, and while it ultimately won’t be a problem for fans overly enamored with the experience, it makes me wish that the production wholeheartedly committed to the objective, even at the cost of a chaotically challenging experience that could’ve looked and felt even more unlike anything else. Finally, my last problem with the movie does contain some minor spoilers, so stop here if you don’t want to be spoiled. While not entirely compromising to my own expectations, there are some out there curious to know if Indy dies in this movie, and while I won’t entirely elaborate beyond speculation, I will say that there is imagery in this movie involving a dead dog (Indy or not) that might emotionally trigger animal enthusiasts to feel angry about the inclusion. In my opinion, the visual cue is necessary to give resolution to a particular subplot, without feeling gratuitously indulgent to the capture, and while it could or couldn’t be Indy, I give fair warning to anyone with the sensitive stomachs to such troubling imagery.

OVERALL
“Good Boy” is a small scaled but deeply personal psychological thriller from Ben Leonberg, that fetches a compellingly ambitious perspective for one of the most original bump in the night concepts in recent memory. Though periodically contained in scope by a limitation in production that feels glaringly evident, the film thrives because of an anxiously emotional performance from Indy at its core, zeroing in on the unbreakable bond between man and dog that breathes new life into the ages old haunted house format.

My Grade: 7.8 or B