I am a dog person. No offense to all the cat people out there and I do have cats as pets at home. But, in general, I just like taking care of dogs a lot more. That’s mostly because of the sense of loyalty and friendship they bring. Well, most of them come off that way, I feel. So, when I saw the trailer for Good Boy a few months ago, I was hoping they would show it in the Philippines. This was a movie with an interesting hook. The hook being it’s a horror movie from the point-of-view of the dog.

I didn’t think they would, though. After all, this is an indy movie so I wasn’t sure theaters here would actually order it. Thankfully, I was proven wrong as Good Boy is currently showing exclusive in some SM Cinemas. I got to watch it over the weekend and I’m happy to make this our second Spooktober entry ever! Happy because it’s a good movie? Well, read on to find out more!

Before you do, I’m unsure how many screens Good Boy is on worldwide. It is an indie film, after all. I’m also not sure how much attention this is getting, even though the theater I saw it in was packed. So, just to be on the safe side, I will be making this a SPOILER FREE review.

Good Boy follows Indy, a dog owned by Todd. One day, Todd starts getting sick. He decides to move to the countryside to his grandfather’s home, hoping a change of scenery will help him get better. However, Indy senses a presence who seems to be after Todd, a presence Todd cannot feel.

As mentioned, Good Boy is told from the Indy’s point-of-view. This does mean a lot of the dialogue is going to be incidental. You can hear the conversations between Todd and others to mostly help the viewers know what’s going on. But, as Indy is a dog, he doesn’t say anything. So, the director, Ben Leonberg (Good Boy’s director, writer and Indy’s real owner) does things like allowing us to look into Indy’s dreams to get an idea of what the dog is thinking. He does a good job… mostly. Some of the dream sequences come off as heavy handed and a lot of the dialogue feels like exposition. Then again, I can’t really think of a way to make these things feel natural without compromising the pace of the film. So, this is mostly fine, in my opinion.

The one thing that really works is Indy. As the star, Indy has the most screentime and he does manage to showcase the right emotional expression for each scene. I honestly would love to see a behind-the-scenes of how Good Boy was filmed. Like I said, this is the Ben Leonberg’s dog. He’s not a dog trainer. He’s a director and writer. So, I would really want to see the time and patience it took to get Indy to do what was needed on camera. There must have been some days when that must have took forever. And that turns out to be true as Good Boy reportedly took over 400 days to complete shooting. Still, all that time and effort paid off as Indy’s performance is very good and, more importantly, endearing. You really start to care for Indy throughout the film’s very brief 73-minute runtime.

I guess I do have to address the film’s very short length. At 73 minutes, including credits, Good Boy is very short. But I actually have to commend Ben Leonberg for making it short. Conventionally, most “full length” films run at least 90 minutes long. But, in some cases, studios request to “pad” the story to make it reach that 90 minute long runtime. This sometimes ruins the overall pace of the entire film. As Good Boy didn’t try to stretch things out, it feels like a really coherent story. Not a single minute of its 73 runtime feels superfluous. Well, okay. Maybe they could’ve trimmed a second or two when Indy is staring at something outside. But, overall, Good Boy feels like a really tightly told story.

I already mentioned how Good Boy has a good amount of exposition. However, the movie doesn’t really come out and explain what’s happening with Indy and Todd. You do get hints here and there but it’s never really fully explained what kind of spirit Indy is sensing. You still have to piece what’s happening and what kind of entity is doing the haunting. I say this as, after the movie was over, I heard a group of people confused with the ending. Because of this, they also couldn’t figure out what actually happened throughout the film. I can’t give you my thoughts and explain what I think happened as this is a SPOILER FREE review. But I do have to mention this as you do need some critical thinking to grasp the overall story.

But Good Boy is a part of Spooktober. So, a big question that needs to be answered: Is Good Boy scary? I can’t say that it was. There are frightening and creepy elements, sure. I mean, the guy beside me was jumpy during the sporadic jump scares. But I didn’t really get scared at anything. I will say there is a deepening feeling of dread as the movie goes on, however. That might be a disappointment to some of you, I’m sure. But Good Boy makes up for the lack of scares with a really good story and a very charming actor in Indy.

Now, do I recommend you rush out right now and try to go see Good Boy? Actually, I’m kind of torn on this. I will say I liked the movie but I can’t say I loved it. It’s definitely something you should watch but I’m not sure if everyone needs to buy a ticket to see it. I can’t say it’s a must watch for horror fans who like to get frightened. Maybe for horror buffs, you can wait for it to come out on streaming? I mean, I do think the unique point-of-view is still a viewing for fans of frightening films. If you can appreciate a good story and some thought provoking ideas, I say go buy a ticket. If you like dogs, I say definitely go see Good Boy. Bottom line: Good Boy is a good movie.

Have you seen Good Boy? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!