The movie Good Boy puts a unique spin on the classic haunted house cliche of movies.
It follows a dog named Indy from his perspective as he and his owner Todd (Shane Jensen) encounter supernatural entities in the house they moved into after being sent home from the hospital.
The success of the horror genre is paired with the success of past dog movies such as A Dog’s Purpose, creating a captivating concept. Despite this, though, the film is poorly done. The story manages to feel extremely slow despite it only having a runtime of 1 hour and 13 minutes.
The plot escalates as the dog sees more and more supernatural entities, and it eventually gets to the point where Todd can also see them. The climax, however, is not much more intense than the rest of the dull movie, making it feel like there isn’t a climax at all.
Todd’s physical illness also progresses throughout the story. This feels awkward for the plot as most of the action is from his illness instead of the hauntings.
The acting overall isn’t bad. Indy’s emotions seemed genuine, and Jensen does a good job at portraying a horrified struggling man whose physical fitness is slowly decaying.
On the other hand, the other characters lack depth, with no real backstory and no defining actions to give them a personality. The film is shot well with great cinematography and use of sound to create suspense.
Overall, Good Boy starts with a great idea, but it could have used more work.
