Good Boy (15)

Todd hopes to ease the symptoms of chronic illness by spontaneously relocating from the city to peaceful backwoods where his late grandfather lived in relative seclusion. The patient takes his beloved four-legged companion, Indy, to the house where the old man died and neighbour Richard found the body. As Indy settles into his new home, the animal senses a dark force, which skulks in the shadows and initially manifests as a silhouetted skeletal figure lit by a flash of lightning.

LondonNet Film Review

Good Boy (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Once dogs are let off the leash in a horror film, man’s best friend frequently becomes his most terrifying enemy. In John Carpenter’s The Thing, a shape-shifting entity assumes the benevolent form of an Alaskan Malamute to infiltrate an Antarctic research base. T-virus-infected Dobermans snarl through the Resident Evil films and rottweilers do the Antichrist’s bidding in The Omen. As for Cujo, the rabid Saint Bernard in the 1983 survival thriller based on Stephen King’s novel…..

Writer-director Ben Leonberg’s low budget haunted house horror, co-written by Alex Cannon, glimpses malevolence lurking in the shadows through the eyes of its four-legged hero, portrayed by the filmmaker’s own pet. Indy, the lovable Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, melts hearts from the opening shot of the animal waking from a light sleep and staring curiously around a room lit by television static. Leonberg and cinematographer Wade Grebnoel shoot predominantly at ground level and the few human characters who interact with Indy are usually captured from the waist down. By design, lead actor Shane Jensen’s face seldom drifts into view, focusing attention on Indy’s line of sight and any bumps in the night that prick the dog’s ears. Directorial ingenuity fits snugly into a compact 73-minute running time, punctuated by a couple of pleasing practical effects shocks.

Todd (Jensen) hopes to ease the symptoms of chronic illness by spontaneously relocating from the city to peaceful backwoods where his late grandfather (Larry Fessenden) lived in relative seclusion. The patient takes his beloved four-legged companion, Indy, to the house where the old man died and neighbour Richard (Stuart Rudin) found the body. Todd’s worrywart sister Vera (Arielle Friedman) believes the house is haunted because no one, apart from their grandfather, managed to live in the property for more than a few weeks.

As Indy settles into his new home – “It beats the hospital,” smiles Todd – the animal senses a dark force, which skulks in the shadows and initially manifests as a silhouetted skeletal figure lit by a flash of lightning. The dog protects his ailing owner from the menacing presence but the unwanted guest is insidious and relentless. Todd’s health deteriorates and in his dangerously weakened state, he can only resist attacks for so long.

Good Boy is an effective shiver down the spine that milks droplets of suspense from the simple premise. Leonberg elicits a winning performance from his tail-wagging protagonist, captured in close-up for long stretches to glimpse the dog’s natural reactions to increasingly disturbing paranormal activity. The filmmaker’s ambition doesn’t exceed his firm grasp. Any time common sense prepares to go walkies, Leonberg wisely returns to Indy’s side and entrusts his picture’s fate to old-fashioned animal magic.

– Kim Hu