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After Eva Victor's Sorry, Baby, Ben Leonberg's Good Boy becomes the second film whose marketing revolved, at least initially, around an adorable animal. So, for both films, people wondered if the cat or the dog was okay.
Leonberg's film uses its canine character in an even bigger role than the initial marketing may have led you to believe. It follows a supernatural horror tale, almost entirely from a dog's perspective. The official plot synopsis reads,
"A loyal dog moves to a rural family home with his owner, Todd, only to discover supernatural forces lurking in the shadows. As dark entities threaten his human companion, the brave pup must fight to protect the one he loves most."
After a long wait, IFC Films has revealed the first trailer for Good Boy, which shows just how terrifying the world might be through a dog's eyes.
Good Boy: The trailer for the 2025 horror film has finally been released
The official trailer begins with a series of clips that look like home recordings of a dog's growth across the years. It looks pretty and nostalgic. However, within moments, the film looks dark and gloomy. It feels almost like someone woke you up from a sweet dream and dropped you right into a nightmarish reality.
The rest of the trailer shows a few shots of the dog observing the world around him. As it happens, a man, presumably his owner, goes through some sort of spooky, supernatural experiences.
Leonberg isn't the first filmmaker to follow a narrative through an animal's perspective. Andrea Arnold's 2021 documentary, Cow, followed the world through a cow's perspective, while Jerzy Skolimowski's 2022 film, Eo, used a donkey's perspective to capture the human world. However, Leonberg's Indy also offers a personal touch to a story, even in a genre film.
More details about Good Boy, the 2025 horror film
Ben Leonberg directed Good Boy, with a script he co-wrote with Alex Cannon. He produced it with his real-life partner, Kari Fischer.
For the movie, Leonberg used his own dog, Indy, to play a fictional version of himself, haunted by horrors beyond our known realm. After the SXSW festival premiere, Leonberg revealed the horror inspiration during his conversation with Deadline.
"At meal times, like a lot of dogs, he'll just stare at us [while] sitting next to his bowl, and he has this Jack Nicholson from The Shining-esque thousand-yard stare. We thought that was a very useful thing to make a movie with."
He further shared,
"Simultaneously, I think, everybody who has had a pet has wondered or maybe worried why their dog was barking at nothing and staring at empty corners, and we wanted to explore that [idea] just as a core engine of the movie, and spin it into a haunted house movie."
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Besides Indy, the cast includes Larry Fessenden, Anya Krawcheck, Arielle Friedman, Stuart Rudin, and Shane Jensen.
The trailer's overall bleak tone sets just the right expectations for the film, scheduled to be released in theaters on October 3, 2025, by IFC Films and Shudder.
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