Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year, they will once again be setting up a fundraiser to benefit Best Friends, which works to save the lives of cats and dogs across America, giving pets second chances and providing them with happy homes.

Today’s theme: 21st Century Horror

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adam Hursey is a pharmacist specializing in health informatics by day, but his true passion is cinema. His current favorite films are Back to the Future, Stop Making Sense, and In the Mood for Love. He has written articles for Film East and The Physical Media Advocate, primarily examining older films through the lens of contemporary perspectives. He is usually found on Letterboxd, where he mainly writes about horror and exploitation films. You can follow him on Letterboxd or Instagram at ashursey.

As they say, if you want to see an example of unconditional love, lock your wife and your dog in the trunk of your car, come back in 4 hours, and see which one is happy to see you.

Indy, the canine star of Good Boy, is indeed a very good boy. His human counterpart, Todd (Shane Jensen)…not so much. In fact, he might just be the worst. On one hand, Todd is sick with some sort of serious illness that causes him to require multiple hospital visits, blood transfusions, and cough up copious amounts of blood. Wanting to get off the grid, and perhaps away from his overly concerned sister Vera (how dare she be concerned for her brother by the way!), Todd and Indy take up residence in dead Grandpa’s old, abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. Grandpa is played here by Larry Fessenden, mainly seen in old VHS footage. Grandpa died mysteriously. They never found his dog Bandit. And now, night after night, Indy sees shadows moving in the corners of the room, blackened figures skulking about, and perhaps the cries of another dog in the basement.

But anytime Indy makes any sort of noise, Todd is there to silence him. The sicker Todd gets, the meaner he becomes. He kicks Indy out of the bed at the slightest inconvenience. Pushing him away when Indy tries to comfort him. Eventually banishing him from the house entirely. Still, Indy remains loyal to the very end. And beyond.

Audiences might have a difficult time fully embracing Good Boy. There will undoubtedly be comparisons to another Shudder release that pointed the camera into corners—Skinamarink. Personally, I could not make it through that movie. I tried just about everything, thinking that watching it around 4 AM in a sleepy haze in a totally dark room would bring the atmosphere needed. It did not work.

Good Boy has a bit more going on at least. Director Ben Leonberg does a nice job of bringing the camera down to the ground (Ozu style) to try to provide that dog’s eye view for the audience. And if you are a dog person, you should just be able to look into Indy’s eyes all day long (or at least for the 72-minute run time of this movie) and just melt. I know that I would rather watch Indy stare into the corner for an hour than watch that fake CGI dog in the latest iteration of Superman. 

It might also change your own perspective when your dog is barking at seemingly nothing. Maybe they are sensing something we can not. Or maybe they are just annoyingly barking at a neighbor having the audacity to walk down their street. No matter the circumstance, we need to be nice to our pets. Definitely nicer than Todd (a low bar to clear). And this month we have the opportunity to give back to some of those pets in need while watching horror movies. 

While Indy may be a good boy, our boy dog, Mr. Beauregard, is the best boy. The vet calls him a distinguished gentleman. We rescued him from a shelter back in 2014. He is always super protective of our daughter. He barks at everything and nothing. He’s just an old hound dog from Deridder, Louisiana, but we wouldn’t trade him for anything.