good boy

Directed by: Ben Leonberg

Starring: Indy, Shane Jensen, Arielle Friedman

When Todd starts to suffer from a chronic illness, he moves out of the city and takes up residence in his family's old secluded home out in the woods, taking his faithful dog, Indy, with him. As Todd tries to recuperate, Indy explores their new home, making startling discoveries…

The concept of GOOD BOY is a great one - a whole horror film, told purely from the perspective of the family dog! - and the film definitely sticks the landing.

 Since he was a puppy, Indy has been Todd's faithful companion, and takes the move out of the city in his stride. Even so, its almost immediate that he senses something isn't right. We spend all of the film with Indy, only gathering exposition when he is close to Todd during phone-calls with his sister, Vera, or visiting the hospital. We never see any of the human's faces until towards the end of the film.

We learn for example, that both Todd's grandfather and father had died at the house, and their dogs had disappeared. Todd's grandfather (a nice cameo by Larry Fessenden) even left a video tape explaining what was happening to him but it falls on Todd's deaf ears.

 It takes a long while before the evil presence in the house makes itself truly felt. A lot of the time we are just seeing Indy react to things he sees, or smells, or hears. Eventually the threat starts to become stronger, forcing Indy to take risks to save his owner. The film goes for a thick atmosphere of unease, but every now and then it ramps up with a decently shocking jump scare.

One interesting aspect is that Indy sees a ghost…of another dog, belonging to Todd’s grandfather. Indy follows the trail the ghostly dog gives him but he can only understand whatever the previous dog could understand about its own fate. There’s no sudden change of perspective to explain anything.

The film isn’t afraid to make Todd an unlikeable character at times. You can read it as a result of his illness, and pain, or that the malevolence in teh house is influencing him, or a mixture of the two, but Todd’s character becomes darker as the film progresses.

THE VERDICT

 Indy is a very good boy! He deserves lots of treats and tummy rubs for the excellent work he does here, really helping to build the atmosphere and putting us humans on edge as he whines and stares curiously at nothing. The best thing about Indy is that he remains true to being a dog, and the film doesn't expect him to think like a human.

9 out of 10

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

MikeOutWest