With a unique point of view and a chilling setting, IFC’s Good Boy is the perfect horror film for a late-night fright. If tears are included, well then that’s just good horror.

After his owner experiences a health scare and moves them from the city to a family house in the dark, rainy woods, “good boy” Indy begins to sense a presence haunting both him and his human. Strange sounds that only Indy can hear and warnings his human refuses to address amount to a beautiful and heart-breaking exploration of loyalty, love, and companionship.

Man’s Best Good Boy

Director/writer Ben Leonberg and co-writer Alex Cannon rely on the emotional connection between humans and animals to sell their story. And it works. The truly incredible performance by Indy the dog, along with excellent directorial and editing choices around scene framing and sound, make Good Boy a horror film to which people will undoubtedly return.

Recently, “Indy” issued a public letter to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences calling for the inclusion of animal actors in award categories. Though humorous, the letter does point toward thoughts viewers will likely have when watching this film: how is a dog this good of an actor? Indy is the primary, if not sole, center focus of Good Boy, and the film would not be nearly as good, it’s message not nearly as effective, if Indy’s responses to cues weren’t so enthralling.

In fact, people might even be interested in a behind-the-scenes look at how Good Boy was made. What training did Indy go through? Who did he take his cues from? How many takes did the crew go through for each scene? Because even though the film is a short one hour and thirteen minutes, Indy is captivating for every single second of it.

One question audiences won’t have, though, is whether Indy is, in fact, a good boy.

He very clearly is.

Good Boy is now showing at theaters everywhere.