Reviews

There have been many haunted house horrors over the years but they’re generally told from the human perspective. Good Boy, as the title suggests, is told through the eyes of a dog.

Indy, the real-life dog of Good Boy’s director Ben Leonberg, and his sick owner, Todd (Shane Jansen), leave the city and move into his late grandfather’s long-abandoned home in the woods.

Indy soon senses a presence in the house and tries to protect Todd from these perceived evil forces.

Telling a haunted house story through a dog’s perspective makes a lot of sense. Dogs like to explore houses, are often left there alone with nothing to do, and they’re more sensitive to noise than humans.

Indy often goes to investigate the noises and stares off into a dark corner, sensing that something is there.

You can’t help but feel a bit freaked out by it, wondering what he sees.

To put us in the dog’s shoes as much as possible, the camera often stays at Indy’s height and follows him around the house.

It’s impressive technically and it must have been painstakingly time-consuming shooting a film with a non-professional dog without the help of CGI or animal doubles.

Indy – a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever – is the only character we are able to connect with, as we don’t see Todd’s face and only hear his sister, Vera (Arielle Friedman), on the phone.

So it’s a good job that Indy easily carries the film with his impressively expressive face, which can convey a gamut of emotions.

The selling point is Indy and he doesn’t disappoint. However, the film is quite middling as a horror otherwise. Leonberg should have pushed it further, maybe dropping in a couple of jump scares, rather than settling for a creepy, ominous atmosphere.

Good Boy puts a fresh spin on the familiar haunted house story and features easily the best dog performance of the year, but it’s nowhere near as scary as it could have been.

In cinemas from Friday 10th October.

By Hannah Wales.

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