"If the dog dies, I'm not watching it," is a statement many horror fans have uttered in their time. I must admit, I never really understood it; a movie's human body count could be in the double digits, and they won't bat an eyelid, so long as the poor pooch walks away unscathed. And if they skipped certain flicks based on the animals' fates, they'd be missing out on meeting some of the best scary movie dogs out there, period.
I mean, I did think like that until I saw Ben Leonberg's Good Boy. The new indie hit puts that sentiment to the ultimate test as it follows Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, who takes it upon himself to protect his ailing owner, Todd, from a malevolent spirit. And okay, yeah, it finally made me understand those who fret over our furry friends' fictional fates. "The website, Does the Dog Die, had a huge spike in traffic after the trailer came out," Leonberg told GamesRadar+ ahead of Good Boy's release. "Horror movies have trained audiences to expect the worst for dogs. That trope is what the whole film is based on; the dog who, early on in the story, is weary of the basement or suspicious of the creepy neighbor. They don't make it out of Act One. People are right to be worried, because they're familiar with that concept," adds Leonberg of Indy.
