31 Days of Halloween: Good Boy

2025, Ben Leonberg (feature debut) -- download

Elevator pitch -- ever catch your dog staring at things in the corner of the room, where there is obviously.... nothing? Or growling at a closed door, maybe to the basement? What if it wasn't ... nothing? So, let's do a movie entirely from the dog's viewpoint -- not always literally from the ground level, but from what the dog is aware of, not what the people are. And add to it a conceit where the humans are truly secondary, often only shot from the shoulders down, to lend weight to perspective from below their knees.

As a shadow grows in the corner of their room, good boy Indy whimpers and crawls into the lap of owner Todd (Shane Jensen, FBI). Todd is coughing up blood, and not long after, checks himself out of the hospital, arguing with his sister Vera (Arielle Friedman, feature debut) on the phone. Things are not good and he is relocating from the city to the abandoned home of their grandfather (Larry Fessenden, We Are Still Here), who lived alone in a rural area, and recently passed away under mysterious circumstances. The house is off the grid, relying on generators.

Whatever shadow Indy saw in Todd's home is also here. Its ever present, a strangeness that is constantly catching Indy's eyes and ears. Todd doesn't notice; only the dog is haunted. And not just by the shadow but also by the grandfather's dog Bandit, a hollow whine from the basement that only Indy hears. Vera said something about their grandfather's dogs always disappearing, in one of the angry dismissive phone calls she has with Todd. He has not come here to recover, to rest, but to escape, and she challenges him on the choice, which only makes him angry.

Whatever haunts this family only wants its men folk, and the good boys who protect them are a nuisance. Todd is frustratingly just not paying attention to Indy's silent warnings, until it is too late. 

Indy, the NS Duck Toler plays his role perfectly. Despite a lack of fear/growling in most interactions with the shadow, he is steadfast in his dedication to Todd. The movie has fun not only depicting something that only the dog perceives, but also playing with shadows and angles and isolation, from a non-human perspective. Of course, we are keen on dogs, so we are biased, but it was quite engaging, if contained.