A good gimmick can make or break a horror film. If we explore that gimmick well, it can elevate the entire experience. Ben Loenberg’s Good Boy premiered earlier this year at the SXSW Film Festival, where it enjoyed some very positive early reviews. Turns out Loenberg’s gimmick of executing a horror movie from a dog’s perspective, using his own dog Indy as the film’s protagonist, was one that worked for festival audiences. And now having seen the film, I can comfortably say it works for me as well. 

Todd (Shane Jensen) is seriously, perhaps terminally ill and is refusing treatment. In an effort to get away from everything and live out his days in peace, he moves to his deceased grandfather’s old house with his dog Indy.  Todd has been told for years that his grandfather’s house is haunted but he’s brushed it off every time. Once they get there, Indy quickly realizes something is not quite right. He begins to notice malevolent presences and elements that could lead to danger for his owner. Indy must find a way to save Todd from the mysterious spirits in this house.

Good Boy runs about 73 minutes, and it’s hard to imagine the film going much longer than that, but for what it is, this film totally works. Indy the dog is giving one of the greatest animal performances I’ve ever seen. We experience everything happening in this movie from the reactions on this dog’s face and he is putting you through a wide range of emotions. There’s a brief behind-the-scenes reel that played after the screening I saw, where Loenberg describes how this all came together. Good Boy took three years to film, and it involved lots of trickery and treats to get this performance out of Indy the dog.  But judging by the final product of this film, it was worth all that effort.

And most of the reason for that is because Good Boy commits to the bit so well. We don’t see *everything* from Indy the dog’s perspective – for instance we understand what Todd is saying to people in phone conversations, or in a doctor’s office, and we can read the texts on people’s phone screens. But in following this dog as our protagonist, it’s easy to get into the dog’s mindset, as dogs tend to be so loyal and obedient to their owners. Poor little Indy wants so badly to save Todd from the ominous spirits in the house, but he can’t know that’s basically impossible regardless of what happens with the ghosts, and that makes the overall tone here very solemn and ultimately heartbreaking.

And I’ll address this, because I’m sure people want to know, and I normally keep spoilers out of my reviews. However, as an animal lover myself, I had to know before I went to see this movie if the dog was going to be okay in the end. And I can tell you with certainty that the dog is fine in the end. He’s put in perilous situations throughout and there is a great deal of suspense and tension, but rest assured the dog is just fine when we end this movie. Except for you know, all the trauma.

Good Boy takes what is undeniably a gimmick and uses it in compelling ways throughout. It’s more of an interesting experiment than a great horror film, but it reminded me a lot of Steven Soderbergh’s Presence from earlier this year, a haunted house story from the perspective of the ghost itself. And it’s always a good thing when filmmakers are still risky enough to take bold, audacious swings like this in the horror genre. And of course, Indy the dog, the titular Good Boy, is a very good boy, and the sheer and utter amount of acting this dog is doing, despite Loenberg’s insistence he didn’t actually know he was in a movie, is completely stunning. And even if you’re not an animal lover, I think there might be more than you’d expect here for you. It’s an effective haunted house film but also a surprisingly emotional story about the bond humans and animals can share.