Written by Sam Clark 

Certificate: 15 

Running time: 72 minutes 

Director: Ben Leonberg 

Science fiction and horror are the genres with which you can have the most fun with, as the creative (and often enjoyably silly) possibilities are endless. However, when a concept is placed in front of you which looks and sounds great, the chances of being let down are high. I'm afraid to say that Good Boy is a prime example of this, a haunted house chiller explored through the perspective of a dog. Despite some good reviews and a creepy enough trailer, the final result is underwhelming. 

This is the debut feature from writer/director Ben Leonberg and co-written by Alex Cannon. We follow a character name Todd (played by Shane Jensen) who moves from New York to his late grandfather's old rural home in the middle of the woods with the star of the film, a golden Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (thank you Google) named Indy who is the director's real life dog. Todd is suffering from a lung disease. His grandfather's cause of death suggests that there are supernatural forces at work. Vera, Todd's sister, is worried and constantly calls him throughout the film, believing that something strange is in fact going on. The camera focuses on Indy throughout most of the film and mostly takes place at his level, Todd's face is not even shown until late on. The only character we see fully is the grandad, who appears in old VHS tapes talking about taxidermy and his missing dog Bandit, whose bandana Indy finds during the film. Indy begins to notice strange things; shadows, noises, and a figure in the night whilst Todd's condition worsens. Indy and Todd must face whatever is coming together and escape whatever curse seems to be upon the house. 

After Good Boy's first trailer came out, it made quite the impression and did the rounds to say the least. Google searches for the phrase ''does the dog dire in Good Boy'' increased by a staggering 2000%, so it was clear the film was on a few radars. Whilst it's very refreshing to not only have an original horror but an original film that is this creative and adventurous, I desperately wished it liked more than I actually do which is frustrating. Something that's genuinely fresh finally comes along and is a disappointment. My issue with Good Boy is quite specific. Everything in life is subjective, films, music and TV being the most. It is entirely possible that I do not find a film as scary as someone else, and it's also possible that I find something scary that someone else did not.

Good Boy falls victim to the same thing that left me feeling underwhelmed by Longlegs and Prescence. Both of their marketing (trailers and posters etc) claimed how terrifying each one was. Longlegs did not prove to be that. The standout quote every poster used was ''the scariest film of the decade'' which not only made me really nervous, but made the sense of disappointment after all the worse. Prescence didn't even turn out to be that much of a horror film anyway and more of an intense thriller. I came away from both feeling very mislead, but that's where the subjectivity comes in, as it's entirely possible people find those two scarier than I did. Once again, that applies here. The trailer for Good Boy has various quotes yet again claiming just how intense and unnerving it is, but I did not get that in the slightest as I wished and hoped it would be far scarier. Not only could it not live up to that, it began to get quite silly which is bad news for any horror. After started off fairly promising, things quickly fizzled out as the film I thought I was going into seemed to be getting farther and farther away. Who would've thought that the summer of 2025 would offer better horror than Halloween? 

Good Boy is in cinemas from Friday the 10th of October.