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Credit: Ben Leonberg
The fall season is historically the best time to catch a good spooky film, especially as more upcoming horror movies than usual hit theaters. I highly recommend you go out of your way to see Good Boy, the upcoming viral dog horror movie, in October. And yes, it’s OK if you go into it knowing the answer to one question about Good Boy‘s end. Here’s what the director told me, and why it gave me some peace of mind.
When Good Boy got on my radar a couple of months ago, I was intrigued by it, but instantly concerned about the fate of Indy the Dog in the movie. I did some digging into reviews and I realized a lot of people had the same question! As the topic went viral, the director assured horror fans Indy lives through the movie (without giving away any details about what happens).
That must be such a weird thing to experience on the Internet, so when CinemaBlend go the chance to talk to writer/director Ben Leonberg, I had to ask about it. Leonberg actually cast his own Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever for the leading role, and compared it to … Mission: Impossible? Here’s how Tom Cruise factored in.
It’s probably not so different from what I think people know when they go and see a Mission: Impossible movie. Tom Cruise isn’t gonna die, but the filmmaking still has to let you think he might fall off that airplane and die potentially for real, when you’re watching Mission: Impossible. So, it’s a different way to solve a kind of similar problem.
OK, this is a really good point. When I watched Good Boy myself after knowing the answer, it still didn’t stop me from literally sitting on the edge of my seat as I stressed over Indy’s safety, and felt the fear and intensity the filmmakers intended. I personally think Leonberg has created a really compelling independent film from a dog’s perspective –a theatrical lens I’ve never seen before.
But why does he think the movie went viral pre-release?
Why Good Boy Is Resonating So Hard With The Internet
I mean a dog maybe dying in a movie is always a good topic for the Internet to debate, and once eyeballs were on Indy, the horror movie had buzz. But Ben Leonberg said he understood why people are so invested.
I think part of the reason people are so invested in what happens to Indy is the question of ‘Does the dog die?’ I think it does speak to what horror movies have trained us to think happens to most dogs in horror movies, which is to say the whole film is built on this trope of, you know, ‘Hey, you know how your dog might stare into an empty corner?’
This isn’t one of those movies with talking dogs or mean pets, it’s a grounded horror movie that brings you into Indy’s perspective, with low angles and an increasing feeling of powerlessness as Indy and his owner experience living in a haunted house. Plus, the filmmaker and his wife/producer actually lived in the movie’s haunted house for three years while shooting the film to get the most honest performance out of Indy, rather than him being a trained performer. It’s wild, and it definitely comes through in the film.
Credit: IFC
As Leonberg pointed out, we’re trained as viewers to see animals as victims in horror movies, or as scary entities like in Cujo, but Good Boy makes Indy the movie’s protagonist and hero. As he continued:
Or, how in horror movies, there’s that dog who’s always suspicious of the basement or suspicious of that weird old neighbor?’ Usually that dog in horror movies doesn’t make it out of Act 1. This is obviously in a film entirely about Indy, so we’re expanding that story quite a bit.
Following the movie getting good reviews on the festival circuit, it will become available to see in its wide theatrical release. When I asked the filmmaker about his reaction to its viral status so far, he told me it’s “been delightful.”
Were we surprised by the reaction? I mean, yes, I think so. It’s all been delightful. We certainly think our dog is really compelling. I think everyone thinks their own dog is the cutest, most compelling dog in the world. So maybe my wife and I are gonna be a little warped now. But no, it’s been delightful to see that people are this invested in Indy, his story and outcome.
You can check his full comments on the topic in the video above or see Good Boy in theaters starting October 3.
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