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Good Boy is a compact supernatural horror film that tells a haunted-house story from the perspective of a dog trying to save his human companion. Directed by Ben Leonberg and co-written by Leonberg and Alex Cannon, the 2025 independent film follows Indy, a dog who moves with his owner, Todd, from the city to an isolated family house in the country. Indy quickly senses that something is wrong—but the humans around him cannot perceive the threat in the same way.
At approximately 73 minutes, Good Boy is less interested in building a large mythology than in making familiar canine behavior frightening: a dog staring into an empty corner, reacting to a sound no one else hears, or refusing to enter a room. The result is a small-scale ghost story whose strongest effects come from restricted information, domestic details, and the bond between a dog and the person he loves.
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What is Good Boy about?
Todd relocates with Indy to a long-vacant country home connected to Todd’s family. The move is meant to offer a change of life, but Indy immediately becomes uneasy. He notices disturbances, traces of the house’s history, and an unseen presence that Todd does not fully recognize.
As Todd’s condition worsens and the supernatural danger becomes more direct, Indy tries to protect him. The film’s central dramatic question is therefore not simply “What is haunting the house?” It is also: How can a dog defend his human when the human cannot see the danger?
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#1 Best Overall
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That premise is the movie’s governing formal idea. The audience is limited largely to what Indy can see, hear, smell, and infer. A conventional horror film might cut to reveal the monster in the corner. Good Boy often withholds that confirmation, leaving viewers to interpret Indy’s behavior before they understand its cause.
Why the dog’s perspective works as horror
Dogs are already natural instruments of suspense. They hear sounds beyond human range, notice unfamiliar scents, and respond to spaces without explaining what they have detected. In everyday life, a dog staring at an apparently empty room may be amusing or unsettling. In Good Boy, that behavior becomes the film’s primary horror grammar.
Leonberg uses Indy’s reactions as clues rather than treating the dog as a novelty placed inside an ordinary haunted-house movie. The camera stays close to Indy’s movements and vantage point, while sound design and off-screen space make the house feel larger than what the viewer can see. A hallway, doorway, or dark corner becomes threatening because Indy is treating it as threatening.
This approach creates a distinctive form of uncertainty. The viewer may know that Indy has perceived something, but not whether it is a ghost, a memory, a physical danger, or a change in Todd that the dog understands before anyone else. That gap between canine perception and human interpretation supplies much of the tension.
The emotional center is Indy and Todd
The supernatural plot is inseparable from the relationship between Indy and Todd. Todd is not merely the person who brings the dog into the haunted house; he is Indy’s entire point of reference. The film’s danger is frightening because it threatens both Todd’s safety and the relationship that gives Indy’s world meaning.
This gives Good Boy an emotional structure built around loyalty and anticipatory grief. Indy cannot explain what he knows, persuade Todd to leave, or investigate the house through normal human means. He can only follow, watch, warn, and act. The dog’s loyalty is therefore both touching and suspenseful: every attempt to stay close to Todd may also bring Indy nearer to the supernatural threat.
Rank #2
Critics have particularly noted the affection at the center of the human-animal relationship. That emotional foundation helps the film avoid becoming only a clever experiment. The dog’s point of view is the hook, but Indy’s devotion is what gives the hook weight.
A small haunted house made unsettling
Good Boy favors atmosphere over spectacle. Its scares grow out of rooms, corners, sounds, traces, and changes in Todd’s behavior. The house feels threatening not because the film constantly displays an elaborate supernatural world, but because ordinary domestic space gradually becomes unreliable.
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The film’s restraint is also one of its trade-offs. Its short runtime keeps the premise focused and prevents the story from becoming over-explained, but it leaves some elements less developed than they might be in a longer feature. Several favorable reviews have described the concept and presentation as stronger than the plot’s expansion. That is a fair description of the experience: the film’s central device is consistently compelling, while not every story thread receives equal room to develop.
Indy’s performance and the unusual production method
Indy is Ben Leonberg’s real-life dog, an eight-year-old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever during the film’s 2025 release cycle, according to the American Kennel Club. The production was designed around Indy’s natural behavior rather than asking him to perform like a human actor delivering precise dramatic beats.
That distinction matters. The film’s premise depends on behavior that looks spontaneous: hesitation, attention, curiosity, fear, and attachment. Reporting from PETA describes the filmmakers’ stated effort to build the shoot around Indy’s comfort and to use their own dog rather than obtain him from an outside supplier.
Rank #3
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Those reports support describing the production as dog-centered and behavior-led. They do not, on their own, establish that the movie received an independent safety certification or formal welfare audit. The responsible takeaway is that the filmmakers have described a production process organized around Indy’s needs, not that an external body certified every aspect of the shoot.
Cast and creative team
Shane Jensen plays Todd, with Larry Fessenden and Arielle Friedman also among the principal credited performers. Ben Leonberg directed the film and co-wrote it with Alex Cannon. Kari Fischer is credited as producer in the available movie information. Indy, however, is the unmistakable lead presence.
The film’s construction reflects that unusual hierarchy. Human performances and dialogue provide context, but Indy’s attention determines what the audience notices. The camera’s relationship with him is closer to a point-of-view character study than to a typical animal-centered family film.
Reception and festival recognition
Good Boy premiered at the 2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on March 8, 2025. The official SXSW listing described it as a haunted-house movie whose main character is the family dog. Indy later received SXSW’s “Howl of Fame” award for canine performance, as recorded in the festival’s official awards archive.
The film also received a Fantasia Festival presentation, whose description called it an original and heartfelt ghost story. That language is festival positioning rather than independent critical consensus, but it accurately identifies the film’s combination of supernatural menace and emotional attachment.
In the retrieved Rotten Tomatoes record, Good Boy had a 90% Tomatometer score from 187 reviews and an 81% audience score from more than 1,000 verified ratings. Those figures are not permanent: aggregate scores change as additional reviews and ratings are added. The Rotten Tomatoes listing should be checked for the current numbers before publication or republication.
Rank #4
The positive response centers on the originality of Indy’s viewpoint, the visual and sonic construction of canine perception, and the sincerity of the human-animal bond. More qualified reviews argue that the film’s premise is more fully realized than its plot, or that its short runtime limits development. Both reactions can be true: Good Boy is a strong formal experiment and an affectionate character piece, even if viewers wanting a deeply explained supernatural mythology may find it slight.
Release date, rating, and where to watch
- World premiere: March 8, 2025, at SXSW.
- U.S. theatrical release: October 3, 2025.
- U.S. rating: PG-13 for terror, bloody images, and strong language.
- Runtime: approximately 73 minutes.
- Genre: horror, mystery, and thriller.
The film’s U.S. theatrical release was promoted for October 3, 2025, while Rotten Tomatoes lists October 24 as a streaming release date. Shudder acquired English-speaking-territory rights—including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Australia/New Zealand—according to the available distribution reporting.
Streaming catalogs are territory- and date-specific. The retrieved records include a Disney+ listing, while U.S. availability records have also associated the film with Hulu, AMC+, Shudder, and related channel bundles. That does not mean every service carries the movie in every country or that a listing remains active. Check the service directly in your region before subscribing.
For viewers who prefer a transaction rather than a subscription, JustWatch lists Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home as digital rental or purchase options. You can rent or buy Good Boy digitally, subject to current pricing and U.S. availability.
Home release: should you buy the Blu-ray?
A U.S. Blu-ray/DVD release is documented for March 17, 2026, and Target has listed a Good Boy Blu-ray/DVD product. Readers looking for a physical copy can check the current listing for the Good Boy 2025 Blu-ray; edition details, stock, and price should be confirmed at the time of purchase.
Physical media makes particular sense for viewers who enjoy compact independent horror, dog-centered genre films, or movies whose atmosphere benefits from a repeat viewing. Good Boy is built around visual and sonic details—Indy’s attention, the house’s spaces, and the information withheld outside his perception—that may reward a second watch more than a plot-heavy horror film does.
Is Good Boy safe for dog lovers?
Approach it with caution if scenes involving a beloved dog are difficult for you. The film contains terror, bloody imagery, illness, death-related material, and supernatural menace involving Indy. A spoiler-free description cannot responsibly promise a gentle viewing experience simply because the dog is the hero.
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The film’s emotional power comes from making the audience care about Indy and Todd, but that also makes the danger feel personal. Viewers who want animal-centered horror without distressing threats to the animal may prefer to consult detailed, spoiler-inclusive content warnings before watching.
What Good Boy does—and does not—promise
Good Boy does not need to be called the first horror film told from a dog’s point of view; that claim would be inaccurate. Its achievement is more specific: it uses a dog’s limited perception as the organizing principle of a haunted-house movie and sustains that idea across the film’s short runtime.
Nor should Indy be described as an Academy Award nominee, a conventional professional actor, or the winner of a general acting prize. The supported recognition is SXSW’s “Howl of Fame” award for canine performance.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsWhat the film promises is an unusual perspective, an intimate supernatural threat, and a story about loyalty under impossible conditions. If that sounds more appealing than an elaborate mythology or a large ensemble of investigators, Good Boy is a worthwhile horror discovery. If the main attraction is the supernatural mystery alone, its compressed runtime and deliberately restricted information may feel less satisfying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Good Boy (2025) based on a true story?
No. Good Boy is a fictional supernatural horror film. Indy is Ben Leonberg’s real-life dog, but the haunted-house story and its supernatural events are fictional.
Who plays the dog in Good Boy?
Indy, Ben Leonberg’s real-life eight-year-old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever during the film’s 2025 release cycle, plays the dog protagonist. The production was built around Indy’s natural behavior.
How long is Good Boy?
The film runs approximately 73 minutes.
Is Good Boy a family-friendly movie?
No. It is rated PG-13 in the United States for terror, bloody images, and strong language. It also contains illness, death-related material, and supernatural danger involving the dog, so sensitive viewers—especially dog lovers—should check detailed content warnings.
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Availability varies by country and changes over time. The retrieved U.S. records associate the film with Shudder and also list possible access through Hulu, AMC+, Disney+, Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. Verify the current listing and territory before subscribing, renting, or buying.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Good Boy turns a simple haunted-house setup into a distinctive canine point-of-view horror film. Its strongest assets are Indy’s behavior, the restricted perspective, and the loyalty between Indy and Todd. The short runtime keeps the movie focused but also limits the development of its mythology. Expect an atmospheric, emotionally charged ghost story—not a sprawling supernatural epic—and check the current streaming or physical-release listing before watching.
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