Good Boy (2025) - Deserving of the Praise?

The film Good Boy (Ben Leonberg) has been going viral on social media since its first announcement: a horror movie from a dog's point of view. Indeed, the film's star, Indiana (Indy) the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, has set the internet ablaze again by winning best performance at the Astra film awards, beating his human contenders. The question is - is this deserved?

The premise of Good Boy is simple; Todd (Shane Jensen) moves back into his recently deceased father's house to sort his things and escape from his usual city life. He takes his dog, Indy, with him, who is the main witness to the sinister presence in the property.

The simplicity of the plot is crucial to the film's storytelling. Everything we see is from Indy's eye-line and understanding; meaning we rarely see his human's face and never what he does when he's not at home. This applies to phone calls as well; whilst we can hear the other end of the line, we're not cutting to Todd's sister Vera (Arielle Friedman) to see and hear her end of the conversation. This leaves us putting the pieces of the plot together at the same time as Indy. The effect is disorienting, helping to put us in the paws of a dog with limited understanding of the situation, and even more limited ways to help.

It becomes clear that the story is double pronged; is there a supernatural entity in the property, or is it Indy's owner's chronic, hereditary illness? The film is purposefully vague on this account, which could also be said to be to its credit. Viewed as a portrayal of chronic illness from a dog's point of view; it shows a dog's love of watching their loved one's struggle change them into someone they sometimes fear instead. With the bond between them clear and recognisable to anyone who's ever owned a dog, this is a heart-wrenching metaphor leading to Indy's difficult final decision. Leonberg has made a testament to a dog's loyalty, as a dog lover himself.

Although, this ambiguity is also to the film's detriment. Metaphor-horror has been abundant in the last few years, and the framing of this through the understanding of an animal fits the theme here, the lack of a protagonist capable of speech leaves the story just difficult enough to follow to be frustrating.

Overall, though, the plot is secondary to Indy's performance; this film is a testament to the patience of working with an animal performer to create a feature length movie, and it delivers on this. The testament to the bond between man and dog well makes up for the story difficulties.