The canine perspective offers novelty, but ‘Good Boy’s’ sluggish pacing leaves the audience bored.
By James Verneire/Boston Movie News
What if Lassie could see ghosts? “Good Boy,” the feature film debut of director and co-writer Ben Leonberg, begins with a phone buzzing, awakening a sleeping dog, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever that we will come to know as Indy. Is that Indy for Indiana Jones or Indy for independent film? Whatever.
Buzzing phones are a significant part of this low-budget, high-concept entry’s soundscape, along with barks, yelps, growls, whines and pants. For the most part, the buzzing phones are activated by the sister of the film’s major human character, a youngish man named Todd (Shane Jensen), who appears to be suffering from an advanced case of some sort of pulmonary disorder. It’s vague. But Todd coughs a lot, sometimes spraying blood. It is overplayed. Todd and Indy move into the “family’s cursed house” in the woods, where Todd continues coughing and his sister Vera (Arielle Freidman) calls, trying to arrange a visit. Their grandfather (indie horror icon Larry Fessenden) used to live in the house, often with one of many dogs. They used to run away, we are told. We see beardo Grandpa in home movies.
In Algernon Blackwood’s 1908 short story “A Psychical Invasion,” featuring his “physician extraordinary” John Silence, the Sherlock Holmes-like Doctor Silence employs a dog and a cat to aid him in investigating and contacting spirits in a haunted house. Leonberg and co-writer Alex Cannon use the same conceit. According to press materials, “Good Boy” took three years and 400 shooting days to make because “its main character is a dog.” Furthermore, every scene in the film either features Indy or is shot from the dog’s POV. (Indy is the filmmaker’s dog). “Good Boy” effectively utilizes its woodsy setting. The slender autumnal trees, sunless sky, fallen leaves carpeting the ground, and naturally occurring mist are a gift, adding to the eeriness overall and to the small family cemetery we see.
In one scene, a distant humanoid figure approaches Todd and Indy in the woods. It is a person dressed in camouflage, armed with a bow and arrow, who turns out to be a neighborly fellow inhabitant of the woods. He offers to lend a helping hand to the newcomer, whose grandfather he knew. At night, Indy and Todd watch old horror movies (“Carnival of Souls,” etc.) on an old TV and usually share a bed. However, if Todd does not feel well, he will evict the dog, and in one scene, he does so abusively. Indy eventually sees another dog, a ghost dog, if you will, with a bandana in the house. Seemingly in a trance, Todd plods zombie-like across the living room floor, banging his head heavily against a wall.
The film is full of such repetitive actions, images and calls from concerned sister Vera. As much fun as it is to have a real dog play the lead, the repetition and BDSM-style figure-of-Death straight out of an episode of “American Horror Story” becomes too oppressively commonplace. Even at 72 minutes, “Good Boy” drags. Todd coughs. Indy sniffs. Spooks appear. We hear about how dogs protected cave dwellers from predators. Can a dog protect its owner from Death itself? Can it protect us from boredom?
‘Good Boy’
Rating: PG-13 for violence, profanity and gruesome images.
Cast: Indy, Shane Jensen, Arielle Friedman
Director: Ben Leonberg
Writers: Alex Cannon, Leonberg
Running Time: 72 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters
Grade: C+
Boston Movie News 