Good Boy (2025) – A Horror Movie Review a Day Halloween 2025 - October 7th

Welcome to Knockout Horror. It’s day 7 of our 31 days of Halloween movie review a day feature. Today, we are taking a dog’s eye view of the world. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, right? A horror movie set from the perspective of a dog. It shouldn’t work but, for the most part, it does.

Spoiler alert, Good Boy is going to be sitting at the top of a lot of people’s best horror movies of 2025 list. I can guarantee that and, to be honest, it probably deserves it. I have revised this review after a re-watch, though, and my score has changed. With that in mind, let’s take a look.

The story is pretty typical. A character moves into an isolated rural home and begins experiencing strange occurrences. It’s a tale as old as time. The key difference here is that the story is told from the perspective of a dog – Indy, the proverbial Good Boy. Indy’s owner, Todd (Shane Jensen), is sick and the devoted pooch accompanies him into the home of his late grandpa. While there, Indy begins seeing spirits that hint at a graver danger in the house that will force him to do everything he can to protect his human.

A New Leash on Horror

It doesn’t need to be said but dog lovers are going to go absolutely wild for this one. In fact, Good Boy is going to get the tails of all animal lovers wagging. It’s almost impossible not to root for the dog in absolutely any horror movie they appear in.Far too often, creators use animals as a way to get some cheap emotion or an easy level of investment out of the viewer. Here, rather than being an obvious victim of whatever maniacal killer is roaming about, the dog is the star of the show.

Thanks to Good Boy’s subversive approach to horror, everything is told from the dog’s perspective. If Indy isn’t in the room, it might as well not be happening. When Indy is left home alone, we stay with him. When Indy spends a night out in the garden, we are sharing the doghouse.

We are frequently placed at Indy’s eye level and taken through the dusty dwelling to view things as he does. Character’s faces are, for the most part, out of focus or completely obscured and for good reason. This isn’t about humans, it’s about the loyalty of one incredible canine. It’s unique and, again, it shouldn’t work but it does.

You may be expecting this movie to not take itself too seriously. You know, what with the whole pooch protagonist, and all? That’s really not the case. There’s not a single hint of irony or tongue-in-cheek with how Good Boy has been crafted. It’s as serious as a phone call from the doctors telling you to bring a friend or relative with you when you come in for your test results.

A Lot Of Bark, A Little Bite

Naturally, with the story being told from a dog’s perspective, exposition is limited. Details of Todd’s illness are deliberately vague. Human conversation is minimal and we only hear minor updates through overheard phone calls between Todd and his sister Vera (Arielle Friedman). We know as much as Indy does though Indy lacks the ability to appreciate the severity. It’s very easy to feel sorrowful for Indy and the troubling reality of his situation.

As Todd’s condition declines, the shadows around the house grow deeper and the anxiety mounts. Indy’s protective nature is overwhelming. Though the pooch is understandably scared, he confronts the lurking demons with courage. If only all horror protagonists were so easy to root for? Indy follows spirits into scary parts of the house, bravely ventures into darkened corners, and never leaves his owner’s side when he is most in need.

You would think the lack of dialogue would be a weakness but I actually think it is one of the movie’s strengths. Good Boy thrives in moments where actions speak louder than words. Indy relates not only panic and trepidation but also love and loyalty with an effortless panache that would make even veteran actors jealous. It’s a great reminder that fear and emotion don’t need to be told with jump scares and loud gestures. They can be just as effectively conveyed in the silence that occurs between moments.

A Gimmick That Adds a Ton

There’s little reason to speak on the human elements of Good Boy; they are very much an aside to Indy’s obvious star making turn. As far as our titular good boy goes, it’s an absolutely fantastic performance.

Indy’s, obviously, adorable but he’s also a very expressive hound. Something which makes it a bit easier to relate to his emotions during certain moments. I can’t say enough about his training, too. This must have been a mammoth task and it speaks to director Ben Leonberg’s care of Indy and ability to make Indy perform that he chose to use his own pet dog rather than a trained pooch.

Cinematography is certainly good enough, particularly considering the fact that this is an indie horror movie. The deliberate obscuring of human faces and low level camera shots work tremendously well. Helping to place us into Indy’s paws.

I found it to be fairly reminiscent of the analogue horror Skinamarink. It achieves a similar sense of presenting an atypical perspective… but with a far more accessible narrative and deliberate cinematography. The eventual revealing of the character’s faces felt a bit cheesy and unnecessary, though. It sort of betrays the earlier, more effective, approach.

Despite the seeming disconnect you would expect to feel from a character that is, very obviously, far from human. It’s incredibly easy to relate to what is, at its core, a story of love and devotion, albeit with some sadness. There’s a melancholy to much of the story that you really might not see coming. Far contrasted against the wagging tails and wet noses a lot of people are probably preparing for when going into Good Boy.

Some Growling Pains

With all of that being said, there are issues that probably deserve mention. Many of which are far more apparent on a re-watch. I hate to say it, but this movie is fairly boring; sitting through it a second time was tough. If you push aside the obvious gimmick of an animal protagonist, it’s so generic, derivative, formulaic, and un-inventive that, had it not been for Indy, the movie would probably be forgotten about quickly.

It’s hard not to feel like the story and horror elements are poorly fleshed out, too. Naturally, there was a necessity to keep things simple because the story is being told from a dog’s perspective. But along with that comes a yearning for plot points that aren’t there and depth that simply doesn’t exist. Everything here is very surface level. Some of what happens purely exists to include “horror imagery”, as well. This makes the story feel a bit confused and unsure of itself.

There’s a vagueness to certain parts of the film that, again, are the product of the narrative style. You aren’t always going to know what Indy is thinking or feeling. Dog owners will probably have an easier time reading his body language, others might struggle. I’ve had a couple of dogs in the past but I’m more of a Pygmy Hedgehog man, now. Todd, despite his illness, is not a very likable character, either. He’s downright shitty to Indy on a couple of occasions which makes him tough to care about.

This is a very dark movie, too. The shadows sometimes refuse to give up their secrets which can be really frustrating. The lighting, as a whole, is very poor. Still, this was filmed over three years and required hundreds of days behind the camera. The nature of the production obviously means some shots would simply have to suffice. After all, how many times can you get a dog to actually perform again for a retake? These are minor quibbles, though. Good Boy is still a technically incredible achievement.

Should You Watch Good Boy?

Occasionally powerful, sometimes moving, and often quite scary; Good Boy is one of those rare triumphs of innovation that probably needs to be talked about. It shouldn’t work but it does… mostly. Indy is a spectacular performer, Ben Leonberg’s assured direction helps to place us in the paws of the titular character, and the story is simple yet relatable. Who’d have thought seeing the world through the eyes of a dog would be so compelling? It’s going to get more love than it perhaps deserves because of the gimmick. People are likely to ignore the fact that it’s a fairly formulaic horror with limited ideas. Still, it’s so unique that Good Boy absolutely deserves a watch.

If you are looking for more animal fronted horror movies like Good Boy, why not check out this list of 15 Horror Movies Like Good Boy? It’s got some excellent titles that should scratch that itch for movies where creatures steal the spotlight.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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