Starring Indy, Shane Jensen

Directed by Ben Leonberg

Shudder, in cinemas now

When Indy (a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever) moves to a remote rural house, deep in the woods, he becomes aware of dark forces threatening the one he loves the most.

A lot of the joy in being a fan of horror cinema is that the genre tends to be reliant on a well-established menu of familiar tropes. The ingredients are often the same, but the fun comes in how innovatively the creative team put them together. Having said that, considering I’ve been at this for over half a century, a whole 75 minute Cabin-in-the-Woods chiller from the point of view of possibly the world’s cutest dog was a new one, even for me.

Todd (Shane Jensen) has owned Indy (Indy) since he was a puppy and they are inseparable. But when Todd gets cancer, he decides to quit the city and attempt to recuperate in his grandfather’s rural retreat – a house that has been in the family for generations, albeit generations that have been plagued by illness. Indy is struggling to process the change to their lifestyle, or understand what is wrong with his master… especially as, having settled into their new home the faithful retriever becomes aware of a sinister presence emerging from the woods, encroaching on the house, lurking in the cellar, skulking in the attic, creeping up the stairs… ever more threatening with each passing night.

If those last ingredients sound like a set menu, remember the movie’s perspective. The whole thing is shot at Indy’s eye level. He is our equal. The movie’s complex emotional journey belongs to him – a loving consciousness with the sensory abilities unique to his species – and as such, despite more than a few decent scares, we gradually start to ask ourselves whether this really is a ghost story at all.

Good Boy is a truly wonderful film. Sure, it falters a bit at the three-quarter mark – not helped by a confusing narrative jump – and it might have been more successful at a concise 60 minutes rather than 75 – but it would be churlish to begrudge Good Boy its feature length ambitions.

Verdict: Unsentimental, moving and (speaking personally, as a survivor of cancer) profound, Good Boy is an extraordinary one-off, and if Indy (no doubles were used) doesn’t get an Oscar nod then the Academy needs serious paws for thought. 9/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com