Good Boy (2025)
The most adorable homemade horror ever.
Presentation:
Before I say anything about this film, Indy is a good boy. The best boy. The best dog actor I’ve seen! Now that’s out of the way, this film is really hard to watch. The image quality is super digital looking and I immediately knew it had to be a Red cinema camera because the film uses a lot of digital zooms to crop in and out to make scenes scarier than they actually are. The indie film doesn’t really look great, in the past indie films were marked by poor image quality, now it’s marked by super clinical image fidelity. The clarity frankly makes Indy’s fur look CGI. The light is a mix of orange and blue LEDs and the whole presentation feels like a homemade project. There’s like no color grade and the effects are kinda weak too. The sound is also unimmersive, I think the dialogue was recorded in post because the echo patterns don’t fit the scene at all. THAT BEING SAID Indy is phenomenal and the cutest dog. I loved his growing up vids and his whimpers made my heart melt. I don’t know if it was intentional, but the human acting is very bad, which makes the dog’s performance slightly better. The pacing is still slow for a 70 minute picture.
Conclusion:
I really wanted to love this film but it’s hard to overlook how cheaply executed it is. It’s like watching your 5 year old son in a play or sports match and although it’s bad you can’t help but be proud. This movie supposedly took years to make because, well, it’s a dog. I don’t know what I expected, like the dog to be able to talk or communicate real emotions on his face, but it’s ultimately not really convincing. But I like the idea of this film and the tracking dog shots are pretty neat.
Recommendations
Comfort for the lonely cinephile.