IFC / Shudder recently announced their acquisition of a very unusual horror film called Good Boy, which had generated a lot of buzz heading towards its sold-out premiere at the 2025 South by Southwest film festival. The buzz only intensified after the premiere, thanks in part to the film’s critical acclaim and its unusual, adorable and very talented leading performer: a dog named Indy. (As a person who is absolutely bonkers about dogs, I have wanted to watch this film since I first read about it).
Good Boy is a haunted house tale as seen through the eyes of a dog. Indy and his beloved human, Todd, leave their established city life to move into an old family home in the country. Almost immediately, Indy sees that something in this house is just not right. He begins to see a dog that is long gone giving him warnings, and he has visions of the home’s prior owner, who suffered a grim fate. As Todd becomes mentally affected by whatever is haunting the house, Indy steps up to protect his beloved human, even if it means he has to fight a malevolent force.
While there are other human stars in the film, it is Indy’s story, and many scenes are even shot from his eye level. If this seems like a painstaking way to shoot a film, it was. It took three years to shoot Good Boy, and all of Indy’s scenes were shot on a closed set, with only his owners present. Said owners just happen to be the film’s creator and director Ben Leonberg and his wife/co-producer Kari Fischer, so that all worked out.
Indy’s bio reads: “Indy is a middle-aged, 35-pound retriever who has no idea that he’s a movie star. His favorite things are fetch, food, and his humans, Ben & Kari—in that order. His special talents include finding tennis balls and staring deep into your soul the moment before you fill his dinner bowl.” Indy initially played the role of himself in Leonberg’s short film, also called Good Boy.
It's expected that Good Boy will eventually be available to stream on Shudder and AMC+, but like other recent films such as Late Night With the Devil, Dangerous Animals and Clown in a Cornfield, it will first have a theatrical release.
Good Boy will debut in theaters on October 6
For horror fans in the New York area, there is an upcoming screening in New York City. Good Boy will be featured as part of Scary Movies XIII at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, August 19. 6:30 pm.