427: Good Boy (2025)

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Get this fucking dog an Oscar.

SPEAKER_03 0:10

In 2012, filmmaker Ben Leonberg rewatched Vulture Guides and noticed something familiar in all these haunted house stories. The dog is always the first to sense when something's wrong. That observation became the seed for his feature directorial debut, a supernatural story told almost entirely from a dog's point of view. The film follows a loyal dog who moves with his owner to a rural home and quickly realizes they aren't alone. As an unseen presence grows closer, the dog becomes the only real defense his human has. The lead is played by Indy, a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever owned by Leon Berg and producer Kerry Fisher. Indy had no formal training, no double, and he appears in every scene, which meant production stretch across more than 400 shooting days over three years inside of New Jersey home. It leveraged a roughly $70,000 budget, low-angle camera work, and carefully built sequences to keep the 73-minute film grounded in Indy's perspective. And the end result was a film critics have hailed as one of the most heartbreaking horror films of 2025. This week, we're talking about Good Boy. Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. You can't just go wherever the hell you want anymore. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

A total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies for the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Mankind has left the caves, but the darkness haunts us still.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

The classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

It's not really safe when it's wet.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

And the paranormal paramour Binks. Come on, scaredy pants.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

You're tuning in for Good Boy, but if you support the show, you'll also get to hear our B-side at the end of this episode where we get into all the iconic dogs in horror.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

Undoubtedly one of the best topics that you can discuss when it comes to horror movies, but for now, who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

I gotta admit, I avoided this very deliberately. And recently I asked friend of the show, Alan, to spoil it like just a little bit so I could feel safer diving in to watch this. So this is my first time ever actually braving it.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

That's a wise choice on your behalf. I was really looking forward to this movie last year. So when it hit theaters, I was running at the chance to see it. So I had seen it before, rewatched it again for this recording.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah, I had not seen this before. This is definitely a first-time watch for me. I honestly think similar to Mac, I held off as long as I could because I knew. I just knew that this was not gonna go well.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

You knew that it wasn't gonna go well? That is deeply concerning to me, Sean. I watched this finally in theaters, but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lie, I was nervous as hell going into this, specifically because when you're when you're confronted with the idea of a movie starring a dog and it's a horror movie, you gotta think, well shit, does the dog die? And that is the biggest question on all of our minds. And we are not gonna spoil it for you folks. But what I will say is you're gonna be feeling so much in this movie. But for those of you who hadn't seen it, what is it that you walked in expecting?

SPEAKER_02 3:41

I'm very curious about both of your perspectives because I was under the impression that maybe all of us saw this already, and so we were re-watching it, or maybe we like one of us went to the watch party that we did for our Discord members. Because I think, Chris, you captured it so perfectly, right? Like you already go into it expecting, is this going to be a disaster, or is this going to be different than what I'm expecting, considering the fact that it's starring a dog and a horror film? Those combinations of things are very sketchy. I mean, we have the animal report for a reason, right? So I I definitely want to hear both of your perspectives on what you're expecting. Because for me personally, I was just hoping and praying the whole time. I I heard so many great things about the movie, but I had no other expectations other than, oh my God, please, Lord, let me not report something terrible back when we eventually record this, you know?

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Yeah, I think I wasn't sure how this was gonna go, you know, especially considering it's like from the point of a view, from the point of view of a dog. Are we gonna get hardcore Henry, but it's spooky and dog centered? Is this gonna be more like evil dead with a canine ash? I really was not sure kind of what this was going to do in terms of a film, in terms of a story. And I tried my best again to avoid really kind of any information. I got just enough from a friend to feel a little bit better into watching it, but I didn't get enough to know like what was going to happen on screen, what was gonna happen with the story, but I was worried, I was sweating it because again, there's a dog and he's the main character.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yeah, 100%. I held off for as long as I could because I knew, like, as soon as I heard about this movie, I just had the feeling that it was gonna be hard to watch. You know what I mean? Like it's from the dog's perspective, it's just gonna be fucked up. Like I can see shit happen to humans all day long, but I don't have it in me to be watching dogs be tortured and terrorized. And so I just knew that the premise was gonna be fucked up and it was gonna fuck with you. I just didn't know to what extent. And to your point, Mac, you had to ask a friend for some kind of some kind of, I don't know, like comfort into making sure that this is gonna be like not that hard to watch, who knows? But I wonder, it makes me wonder how many people literally just searched does the dog die in this movie once this movie came out. I'm sure it's like millions.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

But Sean, genuinely, as soon as the trailer dropped and people learned about this movie, there was a spike in the searching of that question specifically.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

I'm sure there was because everyone wants to know. And I bet you we're not gonna spoil anything here, but positive outcome, people are gonna be like, cool, let's watch it. Negative outcome, people. I bet you drop viewers, man. I bet you just drop viewers.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

It's for sure tough. Man, you're talking about the way that you walked into this knowing that it's gonna be fucked up. Sean, it's because this movie does such a great job preying on your projection and your experience with animals onto everything that you see in this movie. And what's absolutely fascinating, if you gotta see this in theaters, there's a feature at the end of the movie where they show how the movie was made and it was hysterical. It was cutting between very serious moments and really silly, goofy behind the scenes moments where the director and his wife are really just there like making the goofiest sounds trying to get Indy's attention, and Indy has no concept that he's in a movie. So it's such a neutral palette and a place to start from, but because it's preying on your own experience and setting you up so well, this movie actually oozes sentimentality. Next to Sinners, and then Welcome to Dairy. This is the the piece of horror media in 2025 where I felt the most. I just think about like how much soul you can see in this dog's eyes.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah, it's crazy. It truly is crazy. If you love animals, or even if you're a dog owner yourself, this movie is going to be emotionally devastating to say the least, for sure. And it's so funny that you talk about the behind the scenes and like how it was filmed, because I'm sure, you know, if you're just making funny sounds to get reactions to get those scenes, like that's just hilarious to think about because the feeling you get while watching this is completely the opposite. And almost the movie almost entirely told through the dog's eyes, really centering on his devotion to his owner. There's just this deep feeling of sadness and empathy for Indy, the dog, in this movie. But I feel like this movie also does a really good job at creating this persistent sense of tension and nervousness, the atmosphere, the score. They really put in a lot of work to add to these heightened senses for sure. Like it's just you're just getting all of these feelings. You're almost like for for what's happening, and it's not like you're getting a whole lot of action in this movie, but you're getting a lot of like on the edge of your seat, just trying to see what's happening, what you're gonna see, if you're gonna see it.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Keeps you on edge pretty much the entire film, I think. So, yeah, you're you're absolutely right there. And it's interesting because in the past you could have a similar effect by focusing on children, except we've overdone that to the point where now we had a theme for a good long time with Sean, which was quite the opposite. We didn't care. And so here you have this pure innocence, once again, and it's something that most humans either do or should kind of have this like innate thing with dogs and cats and other pets where we just love and care about them and have pure empathy for them, and we don't want to see anything bad happen to them. And so the entire time you're watching, you're like, please don't do it. Not this scene, not the next scene, not any scene, don't do anything bad to this dog. If anything creepy shows up, we look at it and we can handle it on the screen. That's not even a problem. But the second the dog is in the frame, you're just on the edge of your seat because you're like, you, you absolutely cannot. That's illegal, straight to jail. And it's it's really, really effective. And in terms of feelings, there are other feelings that that you're going to feel while watching this. I think, you know, you've mentioned some sadness, but there's other stuff going on here where you can identify with other characters in the film. You can identify with the dog in the film. And so I think by the end of it, you're you're left waiting to give your own pup a good little pet.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Most definitely. It's crazy to think that a movie like this is one that's A, even made, but B, that can evoke such strong emotions out of anyone. Because, yes, although all four of us were all dog owners and pet owners in general, this is gonna touch some heartstrings that are very particular and personal to us. I would argue that what this movie also does is something that just translates no matter what, whether you're a pet owner or not, or a dog lover, right? It just there's a couple themes and situations that occur in this film that can make you a little emotional, that makes you just a bit more tender and vulnerable. And there's this like ominous shroud that surrounds this whole film. It's very deeply unsettling, it's very dark. It makes you scared for what's to come. You feel very vulnerable, much like this dog, this main character. And I just wasn't expecting that, and I couldn't escape that feeling no matter what. And to do that through a dog's perspective, to me, I thought was very unique. And honestly, it just surprised me that this film works regardless of it being from a dog. It's slow, it's patient, it's curious. And I think that it's really a feat for the filmmakers because you would never freaking know that this dog was not trained. Okay. It's incredible. When that was revealed during the featurette specifically, after the theater showing, I was sobbing, let's be clear, but through the tears, I was enjoying this featurette and God, I sure as hell needed the levity because it's really cool to see how this movie that is dark mostly was made in a way that's really light and fun. And as patient as the movie is, the filmmakers had to be three times as m patient because the dog's not even trained. What do you even mean? It's incredible.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

Yeah, this is exactly why I love independent filmmaking so much. It's being able to take a vision and be relentless in the pursuit of just executing it and bringing it together no matter how long it takes, no matter how many takes it gets, no matter how many hours Indy can work before he needs a break and gets distracted for the day. I absolutely was blown away by how well executed this movie was because when I first heard this is a movie from the dog's POV, I thought it was gonna be a la presence. So I thought we were gonna see the dog sometimes, but then switch the camera's perspective to be from the dog's perspective. I didn't expect it would get so much FaceTime with Indy. One of the biggest things that surprised me, even in addition to that, is just how much it evokes emotionally from us. And there's a couple things that I can pinpoint as the worst part of this movie. And almost only one of them is a technical thing that I wish was a little bit different. But the rest of it, it's not because it's a bad thing, but rather you can think back to, oh, these are the moments in my life where I've definitely like shouted at my dog, and I regret doing that because I was just overstimulated and frustrated in the moment. We all do that as dog owners at some point, and it's like, whoa, chill, don't jump on me.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

This movie's ability to tap into something that is so guarded for us as people. We all give a shit if the dog dies. And I can't believe it took this long to capitalize on this idea.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

It's very true. You definitely get that feeling throughout this movie, just that feeling of, oh yeah, that time that I've yelled at my dog or been like aggravated just because I needed like some kind of personal space for a moment, and then you feel bad about it because now you're seeing like this perspective, and you're like, oh man, they just want love, you know. It's not the emotional depth that this movie has that surprised me and how that went beyond horror because I feel like I knew it was going to turn out that way in some aspect. What surprised me was to what you said, Chris, that perspective, the POV shots that we get. It's just the unique approach that it took. I think it was just really well done. The intentional camera shots, the angles were perfect. That was really great. But another thing that I think surprised me a lot, and I only remember watching the trailer for this movie, I think only twice. And what I got from the trailer was for some reason thinking that we were gonna get some traditional type of slasher home invader movie, and the dog was gonna be just involved in it, and it was just gonna be watching its owner get attacked or something like that. I was just expecting something completely different than what this story gave us.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

It's interesting because I'm I'm so reversed from you here. Like I was so focused on the conceit of this film being it's from the dog's point of view. And so I was expecting maybe something family friendly, but maybe something not, but it's gonna be from a dog's point of view, and so it's gonna play out like other horror films would. We're just gonna be from two, three feet up. That's kind of where I thought this was going. And so when we get to the emotional impact of this, that caught me off guard. And I think there's there's probably some folks who like have to watch the whole thing and go online and search what does this film mean, what happened in these scenes. I think I made it like a third of the way to the film, and I was like, oh, I get it. It doesn't feel good at all. Uh I know what's going on and I understand the significance, and I don't like it, but that caught me off guard. I was not expecting this film to go deep. Its waters run very deep here, and it's not like way off the deep end, right? It's not like you have to look it up on some Wikipedia to figure out what it means. It's just that like emotionally there's there's some depth here that makes you remember, you know, that a dog is part of your life, but you're the in the dog's entire life. And so to get from this point of view, it just it smacks you in the face. And that that definitely did catch me off guard and then stuck with me the remaining two-thirds of the film.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

But I think that emotion that it does, it's exactly what sticks in the face that feels like it raises the stakes in this movie because the more you care, the more that you're invested in Indy and Todd and Vera, the more that you're hooked in, the more you're panicking the entire time, wondering how this shit is gonna go down. And the scariest thing about this movie is worrying whether Indy's gonna be okay. This is standard fair supernatural horror. If you've seen one, you've seen them all, but you haven't seen it from exactly this perspective, and that makes it a completely different ball game. So is what you see in this movie scary? Absolutely not. But the panic and the anxiety that you feel that is terrifying. Especially I because I don't want to imagine my own dog in this situation.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

I agree with that. I think you do have that feeling. You also I still the movie does build some pretty decent scares. There's like a couple right in the middle to the third act of the film there where you really get that horror vibe, but it's not overall a really scary film. It builds a lot of tension and anxiety, like I said before. There's always that feeling that something is lurking, but you don't always get to see it, which adds to the anxiety of it all. But yeah, there's a there's a a lot of interesting things that this movie is able to build upon.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

That's interesting that you both bring that up because I think for me, I can't help but wonder am I maybe just projecting that anxiety and that fear that I have for Indy onto like everything else that happens in the film? Because both times that I've watched this, I found it to be pretty scary. I think it depends also like where I watched it, right? The second time around, I had to watch it on my computer screen because if not, Cullen would be literally barking every three seconds. So it had to be done. In a dark theater, it definitely terrified me. But again, I I think it was maybe a combination of like me really just opening up, being vulnerable and raw and terrified for what's going to happen to this dog and just the scenario that it finds itself in, and really just trying to put together what's actually happening. There's a lot of moments where you're not too sure what it is that you're seeing. And that does remind me of Skinner Marink in some ways for sure. It plays on this idea of like shadows and noises. And I think anyone that owns a pet, or honestly, even if you have a parent or you have a very young sibling, you know, this idea of kids and animals just staring at things and you're just not quite sure what the hell they're watching or reacting to, that stuff can creep you out. At the very least, it's happened to you once in life. I think this movie plays and really leans into that moment that I found both times that I watched this to be like deeply unsettling and a little creepy for sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Maybe we need the good boy skin emerc double feature, you know?

SPEAKER_03 18:49

I think so. Okay, this movie is exactly what Skinamarink wishes it was.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

I don't know. Maybe it got some inspiration.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Oh my gosh, Skinamarink. Look, as someone with visual snow syndrome, just turn the lights off, you're living skin rink immediately. Just saying it's fun. But this this film almost felt like Skinamrink in a couple scenes. I think you're absolutely right there. But unlike Skinemarink, it did have tension. And so, sorry, Sean, as we're as we're going through the film and you start to kind of pick up what's going on, who's here, who's there, what is there to actually be scared of in this house, right? Like what are the what are the things at play here? And we start to interact with the dog and these things more and more often. The tension is there, it's absolutely there, and it's and it's from directions that you don't immediately anticipate at the beginning of the film. And so, yeah, it does give you anxiety. I think this is absolutely an anxiety-inducing film. It's not like fear as in you're so worried for your own life. It's not in the traditional sense of like jump scares or anything like that, but it it is absolutely an anxiety you have the entire time that just doesn't go away. And it is one of those things that sticks with you afterwards as well. I think it's maybe on purpose, but yeah, it absolutely just like weighs on your head that like that feeling that I should be doing something differently after having seen this. And and I think that speaks to just how excellent the filmmakers are at at how they made this film because before this nobody dared. And honestly, I think after this, nobody else should. I think this is how you do it. And I think if you're gonna go off and and try to do this but shake it up and subvert expectations, don't just watch this again and and suck up the fact that you can't do it. That's really what needs to happen. I think it's a one and done the film was made, we don't need more because somebody's gonna mess it up.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

I can appreciate that it did the damn thing though. I the more I think about this, the more that if you take indie out of this situation, this is a pretty mediocre supernatural movie. It's pretty, don't get me wrong. But if you don't have indie to ground yourself with for this POV, it's it's another story. And that's okay to say because the focus of this is the relationship between dog and owner, man and his best friend. That is the whole point of this movie. What's incredible to me is that it's able to take that and actually take a haunted house movie and make it fun. Scary, intimidating, anxiety-inducing. But how many times have I said on this show, if I have one more fucking horror movie where a dad, in this case a dog dad, moves his family into a haunted house and jeopardizes everyone's safety because of some dumb bullshit, I'm done. That's exactly what this movie is, except it's actually interesting.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Well, you're probably gonna get a whole lot more of those scenarios, so you know, don't hold your breath.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

But it is what it is. It's just a re every movie is a regurgitation of another movie. Yeah. And I get that. But thank God these folks decided to take what is old and done and familiar and breathe new life into it.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Yeah. And I think that's exactly what it is. I think every everything about this movie from that unique point of view, from the dog's perspective, and also agree, like if this was just through the eyes of the dog, it still may not have worked as well as it does when we're actually getting the shots of Indy reacting throughout the film. If it was just through the eyes, it may not have been as as effective. But the the the wonderful like cinematography point of view shots, the inventive use of that cinematography, the sound design in this movie, I think it all made for one of the more original films in both concept and execution that I've seen in a long time.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Absolutely. I mean, personally, I just think of this film and think, dude, have we ever gotten a movie like this specifically? Like a horror movie from a dog's POV completely to the point where you don't even see the faces of humans, right? Like it's we're really so that you don't get distracted from the fact that this dog is the main character. I find that to be really cool and unique. And again, going back to this idea that indie project, husband and wife, and a couple of friends get together and make this movie over the span of three years, incredible stuff, using their own dog, which adds just an incredibly impactful layer because what happens in this movie, you also are then thinking in your head, especially on a second watch, you're thinking, This is this guy's actual dog. It just raises the emotional stakes even higher. And I find that that translates even down to the ending. This ending absolutely destroys me. Like I can't even talk about it too much because then I'll start crying again. So I can't even, I'm surprised I'm even talking about this movie to begin with, because this is one of those movies where like I talk about it too much and I'm like right on the cusp. It's just incredible. I think it's talking about some things and the way that it personifies this idea of something that we can't reveal because, you know, spoiler, but it just personifies it in a very scary, deeply emotional and effective way. And I want to reiterate, it doesn't mean that you have to be a pet owner to get it. I think that if you've ever loved anything, then you can relate to the emotion that this ending in particular evokes for sure. It's equally tragic and beautiful, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Absolutely. I mean, this this is such a good example of showing versus telling in cinema. I think, you know, even going from the very first scene of the movie all the way to the last, if you are an attentive viewer, you are given enough information to have seen a story like completely in its entirety. I think it even keeps the tension going right up until like the very end of the film, but not with screen cool tricks, flash, whatever. It's just it's implications. It's things that make you think, but what if? And so that whole thing is just sitting in your brain, frying a little bit, making you feel tense, making you feel anxious until the very end. And and I don't want to spoil it, but I know there's people out there who probably want it spoiled, but but no, I think up until the very end, it is just making you sweat a good bit, but not by having to put it into your face. It just has to put it into your brain, and it's so good at that.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Yeah, the ending for this movie is probably one of the most heartbreaking things about this movie. It's where the story begins to unravel itself, that slow creeping reality of what's happening kicks in, and I think it just punches you right in the gut. And yeah, maybe you don't need to be a dog owner to really feel what's happening here, but if you are, I feel like you're gonna feel it a whole lot more.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

You know, it's so tough for me to discuss this ending. So all I'm gonna say is it was an effective ending, and I'm not mad at how it ended. I'm just I'm not, I'm not. And we can talk about it more because what I really want to say would absolutely destroy your ability to go into this movie without it being ruined. I can't wait. We're gonna discuss it. This movie has an ending that feels like a great period at the end of the sentence. No notes, I don't need anything else, and I can't wait to see how that impacts everyone's ratings. But before we actually get to scoring this film, Sean, how would you rate the gore score?

SPEAKER_01 26:21

The gore in this movie is pretty tame. It really is very tame. It's not trying to be a gore fest, it's not trying to ramp up a kill count. It has some moments of blood, but overall, this one trades splatter for atmosphere, and it think it's earning itself a low gore score.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

Good luck, Binks. How does one navigate the animal report in such a movie as good boy without spoiling it?

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Listen, this is arguably the most important animal report that I'll probably ever give on this show. And I've been racking my head trying to think of how to give it because there's no real way to say this without spoiling. So I'm going to say that just prepare your heart because it is deeply emotional. But luckily, if this is any solace, I would say it's not brutal or violent or anything that you see head on, but we're just gonna have to leave it at that. I know it's not really a full animal report, but this time, listeners, you're just gonna have to forgive me because I can't actually give this animal report in detail.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

You know, I feel like Cujo was an easier animal report than this was, but let's go ahead and get into our ratings. Good boy in 2025. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_00 27:34

I'm just gonna say again, I avoided this film and it took a lot to actually watch it. I did think about it for a minute where this is one of those where I was like, maybe I just don't need to be on this episode simply because I don't know if I can actually make it into the film. I'm glad I did though. Okay. And there's there's a lot in the story, the stuff that we can't spoil, that I can relate to personally in my life and in family members' lives, that like it really, it really hits hard for me in a lot of different ways. And so there's a lot of emotion, I think, that you can that you can get from watching this. It is super effective in that. Set that aside and just look at the movie itself. It's it's a beautiful film, as Chris mentioned earlier. There's a lot of great work in the cinematography and the lighting and all sorts of stuff that we're gonna talk about later, but like as as a film goes, it's good. If you if it wasn't centered on the dog, you know, if it was just about some other stuff in the movie and it was all from a human perspective, it might be a little boring, you know, even though it was just as deep. But I think the fact that it is from this dog's point of view is massive. It is a club to the back of the head when watching it. The anxiety that you feel is incredibly factive. It is tension escalated, you know. We really just amped it up a bit. And and by the time you make it to the film's end, you really have earned kind of something big. And the payoff here is there payoff? I don't even know if you can describe it as such, you know. I really don't think it is. I think by the end, though, you're ready. You know, you're ready to move on because it's been such a ride. You need a break. You need to just be able to sit there and deal with it. And I don't think I've had a film just kind of hit me like that in a long time. And so I think how effective it was at all of that, how beautiful it was to look at, and how amazing our canine actor was. This is an absolute slash.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Yeah, for sure. I think Good Boy is one of those horror films that sneaks up on you emotionally while barely raising its voice. It's such a subtle film, but it just hits you hard. I think we said it before, it's told entirely from the dog's perspective. It takes this familiar haunted house setup and filters it through loyalty, confusion, and this quiet dread. And the result is a movie that is far more unsettling than it is gory, and it trades jump scares for this mounting anxiety. And I think what really works is how attached you become to Indy, seeing the world at his level, these half-seen figures, these ominous sounds, moments that he understands but can't explain. And I think it creates this persistent sense of helplessness that's really just genuinely effective. It just gets you, and it's an impressively original experience where the emotional weight lands way harder than expected. It's a really well-executed movie that just isn't a comfort watch. It's just a really it's I was talking to somebody earlier today about this, and I was like, I would highly recommend watching this. Where I wouldn't highly recommend watching the movie, but I I acknowledge that it's a really well-done film. You know what I mean? And it's slow, it's moody, it's quietly devastating in a way that really sticks with you. I admire it, I respect what it's doing, but it's just something that I would not look forward to watching again, just from the emotional weight of the film. This one, it sits, it stays, and it devastates. And this one is a barking slash. It is a barking slash, but it's fucking hard.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Look, I couldn't agree more with the both of you. I feel like what I've shared already is kind of revealing, as far as my scoring goes, this movie is one that I think I will always remember. I was very surprised by my reaction to this movie. Definitely surprised the second time around. I didn't think that I would be sobbing to the point where I needed to compose myself before even getting on this recording. And I'm not being dramatic. I think that there's a particular theme here that it isn't so much the loyalty of a dog and such and that pet ownership. It's it's something else that we can't reveal just yet, but something that you think about often if you've ever been in this situation before. And I and I wasn't expecting this movie to get into that. It hits harder than you'd ever expect. And it's 73 minutes, and thank God for it, because any more than that, it would be devastation on my soul. I think that it's really quick and f and a good watch in terms of production value and this tension and this curiosity and fear and anxiety that you just can't get like free from until the very, very end. The atmosphere is super effective in that regard. But I'm just really surprised by the after effects of this movie, you know, like what you're left with, the appreciation for maybe it's your pet or maybe it's for your kid or your friends, or just in general, that that sense of loyalty and the connections that you have with people, it changes, I guess. At least that was my takeaway from watching this both times. And that's something that I did not expect coming from a small indie film, you know, that I felt like didn't even have a long enough runtime in the theaters. This movie's certainly not talked about enough. I would sing this movie's praises from the rooftops if I could. So I would definitely recommend it for anyone that's willing to take the chance and really just wants to cry it out, maybe. That could be a good choice for sure. Because I agree with you, Sean. It's a tough one to recommend because it's certainly a tough one to re-watch. I can tell you that. But I'm really impressed by this movie, both from what its execution did, but also from what it took to make this movie. And obviously, I'm a paranormal paramour, right? I love this stuff, I love supernatural. It's got the that sense of like ghost stories, possession, presence of unseen forces, and this classic trope of not really sure what your pets are sensing, and all of that is so great. And sure, maybe not original, but this POV from a dog, it's man, it's something else. And I think that they did a really good job with it. So most definitely, I'm giving this an intense slash for sure.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

This movie is quite genuinely a sight to behold. I mentioned earlier that it preys on the experiences and the fears and the anxieties that we have as we look back on relationships with pets and animals in the past. But even with that, even in the absence of that in your personal experience, even if you just look at what's in the background of this film, it's a tough pill to swallow. And I can admire that. I can I admire the simplicity of the foundation of this story, knowing that just about everything you get is what you're imagining is happening on the screen. What you're imagining is going through the minds of some of the characters that you see. This is a film about loyalty. This is a film about perseverance, the cold grip of death, and what it means to navigate something you are not equipped to fully understand. And that's not just that doesn't just go for indie, that also goes for the human characters in this movie. This is a movie that perfectly captures the my dog is staring and barking at nothing, what the fuck is up with that? But also makes it deeply emotional and deeply personal. I have watched this movie now about four times and it hurts every time. But this is one of those that I absolutely need everybody to watch. And if you know, you know. If you're looking at me and we're squinting our eyes at each other, and you're wondering, Chris, is this safe to watch? I'm gonna say, fuck off, I'm not telling you, but I am telling you to watch the movie anyway. This is a slash. And with that, good boy from 2025 has earned a universal slash. Now you can't find this movie streaming online. You can check the link in our show notes to see where you can find it right now. Give it a watch, then join us in the second half so we can be more specific about that ending. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

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SPEAKER_03 37:37

That's just how good he was. We have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, Sean, let's go through those kills.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Well, finally, we're here because if you've already seen the movie or you just got done watching the movie and you're joining us in this second half, we can finally let it out. Indy doesn't die. Thank the fucking lord. Indy didn't die, folks. The dog did not die. Uh, but we really only have three kills in this movie. You have Todd, his grandfather, his grandfather's dog, maybe some of the various family members that were buried on his family graveyard, but we're not gonna get into all that. We're just gonna get into the three. So, regardless, the weight of these kills are heavy, and I gotta know what you all thought about them.

SPEAKER_03 38:20

The death of Todd's relationship with his sister. No, I'm kidding. Oh my gosh, you poor boy, you poor boy, you poor boy bandit. That was so sad.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

That's my thing with the animal report because it's like, yeah, Indy, Indy doesn't die, but another dog does, and it makes me want to throw up. So Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

So this is something that I asked Alan to spoil for me. I was like, all right, does Indy die? Does the main dog die? And he was like, No, but there are other things with animals. And so I was sitting here thinking, oh, this is there's gonna be like mass abuse or something.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Right. And so that's what I was expecting. And so when we when we start out and we mentioned that the grandfather's kind of a little bit off and he had a dog, I was like, oh crap, the grandfather is gonna be a ghost and he abuses animals and it's gonna be miserable. And I, you know, spent the first third of the film just waiting for something horrible to happen there. And then, you know, eventually you realize that's not the case, and you realize that whatever the grandfather suffered from, the grandson suffered from, and then you're like, Oh, so the dog was just trapped and nobody was there to let him out. That is horrific. That is so miserable. And the grandfather and Todd, like them going out, that's a that's a real crap way to go. Okay. Uh, so that's not fun to see him go through that. But what's worse is to imagine that poor pup just waiting his turn, like, all right, let me out. Miserable.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

How does how does one literally talk about this movie without wanting to cry? This is crazy. This is absolutely insane. I don't think there's a single kill, although thank God there's only three, because in this kind of setting, it's not for me. I can't do more than what we got. But each one of these kills in their own right is very fucking sad. It's very sad. And I would say, of course, the grandfather's dog is deeply disturbing and and sad because yes, it was trapped, but at the same time, we see this as it kind of like plays out again with indie. It's the sense of loyalty, right? It stayed loyal to its owner, it stayed there, and it reminds me of the famous episode from Futurama, if you know you know, Fry's dog, that I just Hanochi's pizza. Thank you. You get it. When I I just I can't do it. That episode scarred most of my childhood and me growing up, and then I had to relive this again. Get out of here. Too much, it's too much.

SPEAKER_03 40:42

It is dastardly, absolutely diabolical. I didn't really care if Todd made it, and I feel badly about that because obviously he's suffering tremendously, but also I was here for Indy. I did enjoy the reveal of Todd going though, and we see his final breath and then he turns around and sees himself. But I need to know if anyone else had the same experience that I did. We all remember the scene where Indy was trapped in the basement, and when Todd opens the door, Indy's behind the door covered in mud.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

And he gets him in the tub and he says he smells like death.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

I was in the theater, my throat just completely swollen and caught, thinking, oh my fucking god, the dog's a ghost now. I was so fucking scared that this dog was already dead.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Oh yeah, I don't know if I had that exact same feeling of the dog was dead. I definitely like at that at that point in the film, I actually was just still trying to figure out everything that was actually happening in this movie. So it was, I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

The second time around is when it clicked to me that he smelled like death because that mud, the entity that it encountered was death. But the first time around, I didn't clock that. So I was same as you, Chris. I was like, fuck me. Please do not tell me that this happened right now. I will lose it in this movie theater at Tammyami AMC. Okay, I can't do this. I cannot do this.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Yeah, I didn't know if the dog was like slowly getting possessed at that point in time or what the hell was gonna happen. It was very interesting for sure.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

But I do have to I just have to comment. I mentioned before the cinematography in this movie is is great, but like that camera work though, because I feel like most people get it easy where you're at eye level or like a little bit higher, or you're kind of far off. And we are like two feet from the ground, three feet from the ground at most. And we're getting every angle, we're flipping back and forth, we're dog's point of view, or looking directly into the dog's face. Uh, we're staring off into the distance, but like we have to do it effectively. If something kind of like moves in the frame way off in another room, you have to be at just the right angle for it to not look cheesy, and they somehow did it. And I know there's other things that make this film beautiful, but like the way that they were able to get the get the positions of the camera, the right ankles in this camera. Like, how, how, how do you do that? That's just skill.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

It's honestly such a feat. And when you again see what they went through making this film, I wish I could find the featurette, but I haven't been able to find it online. Hopefully, this comes out for a physical release or a digital release so that we can just own it and own that featurette as well. But man, I'm also thinking about in conjunction with how they frame the camera to assume Indy's POV and how he sees the world. It's also what this movie does with its lighting and its shadows. Because again, dogs look into a dark corner and they're barking, you're like, what the fuck is going on over there, man? But I'm thinking about specifically the shot where Todd and Indy arrive at the grandfather's property. Todd is out of the car, Indy turns around, he sees a dark, shadowy figure cloaked in red. Tail lights. Tell me that is not fucking insane to see. And then, oh, you poor little baby, you also realize he can't even see all those colors.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

Very true. Very true. Yeah, the lighting in the atmosphere is super good because it's you're often unaware whether you saw something. It just fits the dog's limited understanding of all everything that's going on, so it really plays into it well. But okay, the sound design in this movie, which I mentioned before, was I don't know, it may very well be the film's strongest technical achievement because the off-screen noises, the distant thumps, the subtle growls, those ambient creaks are emphasized over the dialogue. It really mirrors how a dog might process danger, right? The restraint with the sound is very key to the success of this movie. The sound becomes the scare engine in this movie. It's not music spikes, it's not jump scare cues, it's just this really creepy sound design that just was just persistent and it just kept going. It was just determined throughout this entire film. And I think without the sound in this movie, I mean cinematography, yes, but without the sound, fuck man. This that shit really added to it.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

I agree. I think now that I watched it, but like with headphones in and like just a solo room, you really feel that like in your shoulders and like behind the neck. It's just very creepy. So I'm with you on that one. There's a lot of technical elements here that I think are incredible. We keep talking about cinematography. There's some incredible shots here that I think back on often, like them in the forest, like that graveyard. And it's like this soft light where you just see a figure in the background and you're curious, like, what the fuck is that? I think also just the way that they made things happen in this home. That rain, you could tell me that it was a monsoon out there, and I would believe you. And it was just a couple of hoses just coming out of the roof. Like it worked, man. I think that it was really cool what they were able to achieve on such a small budget that, like you said at the beginning, Chris, it just makes you feel like, damn, I love these indie projects. People are making it work, they're finding a way to tell these stories no matter what, they're not letting the budget limit them. And I think that that's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 46:23

Well, Chris, I know you mentioned the lighting and the shadow work in this movie, and I think there's a lot of really great scenes, and I'm sure we're gonna start talking through a lot of them because I think there's a route a lot of really great scenes, but before we jump into some of the more elaborate ones, there was a small one where we got the Nasferatu fucking shadow hand going across the room, which I thought was absolutely fucking great to have in this movie.

SPEAKER_03 46:52

Yeah, I was waiting for something to pop out and saying, I am an appetite, nothing more. It was so fucking good. But that goddamn hand, man, that hand needed to chill. The hand itself was a paid actor. But I was also thinking about honestly, one of my favorite scenes, it just goes into exactly what I meant earlier with you just feel such anxiety watching Indy do his thing. And I'm thinking about Indy going behind that wardrobe, sniffing, smelling bandits bandana, which I don't fucking know how. I'm guessing it's just an extra bandana, but clearly had a scent, and he sniffs his way into little glimpses of the past and the spooky shit that's happening. But seeing what this entity looked like in such a way that he's just like panicking and scrambling to get backwards out of the room, that was a moment where in the theater I thought, if this fucking thing tips over on top of this dog, I'm walking out right now. He's just sniffing around, he's just being a dog. But my little brain was just like, oh my god, I see danger, I see peril, even if it's just furniture.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

There's reason I feel like, you know, the attention is effective enough to make it seem like furniture is furniture's danger here. So I respect that. I think my favorite scene is my least favorite scene because it was so uncomfortable. And it was also really good for providing context by showing and not telling. You know, we have some scenes with Todd where you know we're in we're in the hospital and we're hearing about an experimental treatment that he just doesn't qualify for anymore for because he's too far along. But when he when he comes home and he's got the the wrapping around his I don't know, the inside of your elbow, whatever that's called, from where he had an IV in there, that whole scene was so uncomfortable and I really did not enjoy it. But that moment or that quick flash with that, just kind of revealing this is this is what he's going through, and this is why he's feeling so horrible and and is pushing him away. Poor little dude, right? He just wants to be there to comfort, but he's getting pushed away because this dude is drained. He feels horrible, he is medicated, probably out of his eyeballs, and he just absolutely feels like trash. And so this is that moment I think you mentioned earlier that you push a dog away, or you get angry at them, you get a little bit frustrated. This is something where like I've I've been through this myself, you know, if you're dealing with any sort of chronic illness, you have those moments where, like, I'm sorry, I can't take you for for a walk today, or I can't go play outside. I just don't have it in me right now. His reaction is, of course, much more aggressive because he's going through something very extreme. But it's just it's a really good example of just showing us a quick thing and telling us so much with a glimpse. And then that whole scene, of course, tells us a lot, but it it is so miserable to to make it through that scene that I it's hard to say it's my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 49:38

I'm so glad you brought that up, Mac. And I wanted to get into this a little bit because Sean and I were just talking about in the frozen episode.

SPEAKER_01 49:46

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:47

Because there's a monologue from a character. It's not truly a monologue, but she is just going on and on and on about how she's gonna get stuck up there and her dog is not gonna understand. Her dog is gonna be in her home, looking at the door, thinking, Oh my god, I'm abandoned, and the dog is never gonna understand, and then it's gonna starve to death, and no one's gonna take care of the dog. And the guy with her is like, they're gonna hear the dog barking, they're gonna bust down the door, the dog is gonna be fine, you're gonna be fine too. Don't worry. But Sean and I were going back and forth discussing the reality of a dog confronting and existing in this new normal without being able to reconcile that or really understand what happened. Ugh. And being stuck in the worst feeling is just honestly terrible. And you see this happen with Indy. Yeah, Indy is coming from a place of what seems to be concern. He's checking in on Todd. You can hear these noises, and he has no way of understanding what the fuck is up on Todd's arm. He just sees something, yeah, and he's concerned about the shadow of death that is emanating from that. And he doesn't understand, he doesn't fucking know. So take that and draw a straight line then to the end of the movie where we as an audience get some kind of closure because Todd is acknowledging that he's a good dog and he can't save him. But Indy still doesn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

Yeah, it's so like heartbreaking, and yeah, to literally come off of Frozen where we were just like conversing of the possibilities of just that one scene putting that like that moment in our minds to then having to like for more or less live that moment in this whole movie. Like, it's just I don't know. I don't know how we could have unintentionally teed this fucking double feature up for us because that was just completely fucked up.

SPEAKER_02 51:35

What a double feature. Okay, this is what it sounds like to me. I am just like in awe of this film, especially when it comes to something like this, like what we're talking about exactly. How do you not empathize with this animal? How do you not empathize with that sentiment of nothing? People that do dog fighting, yeah, those are the people that don't give a fuck. The worst pieces of garbage on this planet, honestly. But it's just like insane to me because really just try your best to put yourself in a situation where you cannot fully comprehend what is happening to someone that you love unconditionally. You want to save them, you want to be with them forever, and you're not quite comprehending why it is that they're not feeling well, why they're behaving this way. And we know because we're humans and we are seeing this also, we're seeing both perspectives, but I just can't imagine, and both like young children and like animals that aren't really exposed to the darkness and the sad realities of life and sickness and the lack of control that we have when it comes to all of that, right? And our, I guess, for lack of a better word, impending doom. You know what I'm saying? Like, I think that that's really hard to grapple with. And this ending, although it's extremely hard for me to talk about without like crying, it is my favorite scene because I think it really comes down to this idea that we've been watching this presence of death, this and again, impending doom that Todd is gonna have to accept one way or another, towards the end of the road. It eats away at him. It makes him worse, it makes him like irritable and and mean, and all of these things that I mean are happening to people that are dealing with something so devastating as whatever it is that he has. We don't know very clearly if it's cancer or what, but it's clearly something that is something that he can't come back from. And at the very end, when we see death just like dragging him in, right? We even get a little bit of that moment. I realized in the second watch through that when he's pounding his head towards the door of the basement, that was like death really just calling him, forcing him down there, you know. When I see all that doors the end, when he's just like making sure that his dog knows, please keep living, don't worry about me. Like I I want you to keep going. God, it's just heartbreaking. Beautiful, but heartbreaking nonetheless.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

Yeah. And even to the point of Indy having to make the choice to like stay or go, there was still that choice afterwards. There was still that hesitation of what Indy felt like he should do in that moment, which was just crazy, just absolutely crazy. But okay. There there's a couple of really great scenes that I feel like we haven't touched on yet. And I think it's this was either right before the scene you were describing, Mac. I think it was right before, and it's the scene where Todd is sitting on the bed after getting bad news about him being sick and how they're able to keep the shot of Indy reacting to what's happening while still getting the while still getting Todd's reflection in the old TV screen was just very, very smart, and it was very cool to see. It was very like you're just getting everything somehow in that one scene. So I thought that was super effective. But the the whole like scene, that whole sequence where where Indy appears to like have that fucked up, like scary dream where he ends up just waking up on the floor and then the chilling, like closest thing to a jump scare that you would get in this movie with the crawling, you know, the crawling up the basement stairs, and that whole dream sequence just was fucked up. And then he goes under the bed and he's dragged by by Todd. Like that was another little pop type thing that happened. That whole sequence of things of Indy like hearing the noises, going down to the stairs, having the fucking crawl up the stairs that you would see in any fun fucking haunted house movie that would just really give you the shivers to wake up like it was a bad dream, then start hearing something, go get dragged by your owner as another pop-out type jump scare thing, and just unnerving. The whole thing was unnerving. So those were like some really super well done effective scenes. I would love, I don't know if that little thing at the end of the movie in the theaters went over that scene. I would love to see how that scene was made.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

I gotta say, though, this had such a sixth sense kind of moment when we clearly see full frame another dog walking up the stairs. Like, I was not expecting to see anything that didn't look ghoulish or ghost-like, but when we see this beautiful golden retriever just slowly walking up and then running up the stairs, and then it's like, all right, where did he go? That like actually caught me off guard. That was super effective.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

Yeah, and how brilliant that it even like looked at him at one moment, like you coming or what?

SPEAKER_01 56:40

Yeah, the dogs have that sense. They have that sense. I told you one of my dogs that wouldn't go in that hallway at that house we stayed at, they just would not go in that hallway. You couldn't drag them in there.

SPEAKER_00 56:52

Maybe it maybe it just smelled gross. Maybe he's like, nah, that smells horrible, and I'm not going who knows. I mean, we've we've kind of danced around a little bit, but like I read some stuff online. People had a reaction to watching this movie where they thought Todd just suffered from addiction.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

I thought that at first too.

SPEAKER_00 57:07

It doesn't add up though the further you go along in the movie, right? Like, I think it's pretty clear we're supposed to be leaning more towards something cancerous or another sort of lung-based disease. And I know you thinks you've mentioned that like the shadow creature is supposed to be death. And for me, it like it almost screamed that the shadowy creature thing is this disease. And so anytime it's it's showing up in in frame, it's his disease rearing its head, and the dog is like aware of it and has to deal with it even though he doesn't know exactly what's going on. But in terms of the whole supernatural thing, I I a hundred percent thought this whole time that like his grandfather was gonna be a brutal ghost and show up and have been a dog abuser and do miserable things or possess Todd and he was gonna do miserable things. But for this ghoulish tar man to show up and have been a death or the effect of the disease or whatever it is, is so much deeper and so much more effective. And every time Todd would spit up blood, it was like so disgusting. But like to have that combined with covered in tar. Oh my gosh, how did they that's what I want to know? How did they do that and not freak the dog out?

SPEAKER_01 58:21

Oh my gosh, that was bad. Just a real good dog. It was that, and then mixed with the scene right after where like he was dry but still had blood stains on his fur, you know what I mean? Like, oof, gross. But I I agree with you, Mac. I I think the one thing that I I am still trying to wrap my head around is now that we have this whole story and we kind of like have an idea of what this is all about, the one thing that I haven't fully pieced together, I guess, is is the is like the the relations to the grandfather, right? Because obviously he died in the house, but is it are they are they implying that they had the same disease? Are they implying that something else happened? It's just very strange to me that they would have the same type of cancerous disease, or if this was something different, you know what I mean? So I don't know. It's it is very interesting.

SPEAKER_00 59:18

To me, it screams like that that habit of of animals to crawl into a private place when they know they're about to go. Yeah. Like birds when you see them just totally slow, laying on the ground, sitting down, doing their thing. You might think, oh, that's cute. And then you realize it's because they're trying to get away from the other birds and they're trying to be alone, and other animals do that. And it kind of screamed like that feeling for me where they're trying to go off away from everybody else, avoiding his sister and just hole up and die. And they don't know why, they don't know what it is, they feel this calling, but that's what it screamed to me at least.

SPEAKER_02 59:52

1,000% I'm with you, Mac. That is absolutely what it read to me as well. It was just the little bits and moments with his sister, with the hunter neighbor guy, that they're like, Why would you go there? That it this guy died there. Like, it's clearly not a fun, cozy place to be. But yeah, I mean, this is a movie from a Animal's POV. We're talking a bit more of that like animal instincts, right? That curiosity and what they do, those behaviors, and that's a very common behavior for animals to do. Dogs, they just kind of hold and hide up, you know, and and just are alone when it's their time to pass. And I think that to me, it definitely read that both of them have this like maybe genetic disorder or cancer, you know. And we know that cancer can definitely be hereditary. So maybe they have some kind of cancer that or sickness, disease that took their lives, you know. So that's kind of what it read to me, especially at the beginning, like that first scene, which is very intense. I think it can read his addiction, maybe, but it definitely kind of translates later on that it's something like a little more, I guess, different.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:09

100%. It it absolutely felt that way. Like this is Todd taking himself out to the pasture and wanting to die alone. But I just want to give a little chuckle here because his grandfather was fucking hilarious saying he wants to leave his taxidermy to his vegan granddaughter. Fucking great. Very funny. Thanks a lot. A little bit of a dick that he leaves his grandson everything else, but it was very, very funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:36

That was ridiculous for sure. But yeah, what else is there to say about any of the characters in this movie? Because really, it is it is really just all about Indy, and all I can say is get this fucking dog an Oscar. You know what I mean? If nothing else, get this fucking dog an Oscar. Let's make history, all right? It should be best actor, Indy.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:58

Let's do it, man, because I heard a lot about that dog from that movie Anatomy of a Fall. I don't know if y'all saw it. It was like this court foreign film drama. They talked a lot about that dog. Where is that same energy for indie? I'm gonna need it. An untrained dog emoting without actually emoting. It's incredible. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:17

You know, I mentioned earlier that I have a few things that are like the worst part of this movie for sure, Mac. The biggest one was the most difficult one to watch. And it's essential in the movie and it's it serves its point. It's good. But it's Todd grabbing Indy's head and saying, I said get I said get the fuck out of here. That was really tough. But I do want to be a little bit of a a pest because I think for me, the one thing that pulled me out of this movie visually, and it's happened every single time that I've seen it, it's when Indy is running out of the house, breaks through the glass, and it's terribly CGI'd glass. It's that one moment. It's that one moment. I'm like, oh, one of these things is not like the other. And the entity already like doesn't look really great, but it is what it is, right? It's a supernatural entity, but the glass in in particular really just irked me.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

It was kind of funny a little bit. It was like action movie-ish when he hopped through that glass. And I and I think I'm bothered not by the execution or anything, but the scene where Andy breaks free and heads off into the woods and ends up in some sort of trap or snare or whatever it was that was happening. It was so dark and I could barely see anything. There's a lot of scenes in this movie that are like basically there's nothing but blackness and like a little bit of a shadow lets you know that there's some light somewhere, but like it's really unclear who sets him free. It's really unclear if if that trap is around his neck, if he's just being held back by like a chain. I don't know what's going on. And so I think I don't necessarily want to see him in a trap. I I wish that whole scene hadn't happened, but that's my one gripe, I think, is we're getting a little bit stranger things season one here, where some of the scenes are just so dark that you can't make out too much. And maybe that's good. Maybe that's a good choice, but for me it was kind of like I turned the brightness up. I literally was like, oh, I just I must have it too low, I can't see what's going on. I turned it up, I'm like, oh no, there's just nothing. There's no data.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:16

That's interesting. I had zero issue seeing what was happening in that scene.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:20

It wasn't the only scene. So that that darkness complaint is across many scenes in the film, but that was just one example to me, at least, of you know, in my memory, uh what bothered me, you know, because the hard-to-watch scenes, you know they're hard to watch and you don't want to watch them, but it's part of the story. But like when you're in some of the stuff and you're just kind of like, what the heck is happening? Not due to the angle, not due to the lighting, but literally due to the lack of any information, like visually, that's when I had trouble.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:48

Yeah, I feel like for me, the worst part of this movie is unfortunately just the best part of this movie. And I think the fact that it's just centered around indie, I think it's the fact that it's purely from the dog's perspective, the way the story unfolds, it's truly heartbreaking, it's emotionally taxing, it serves as both the best and worst part because it makes the film unique, really good, but also I hated living in it. I absolutely hated living in it. So it it is the worst part. It just is.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

I'm with you there. I think that the worst part has to be how emotionally wrecked you're gonna be after watching it. That's for goddamn sure. And I'll probably tie that with how underappreciated the movie is too. I feel like again, it really didn't get enough theater time, discussion, maybe even like I I feel like I need to talk about this movie more. I I think it's really unique, but then I also feel like I'm a harbinger of sadness if I tell people to watch this movie completely, right? It's like what we're kind of doing here. It's like, hey, watch it, just be careful. And that being said, as far as what I watch this. Again and sob uncontrollably again. Shockingly. Yes. I feel like maybe this time around, because both times I've watched this by myself, which is probably a bad idea on both accounts. Next time I'd probably want to wash this with a couple more people. So that way maybe it like helps me not feel like crying so much. Could be good. I I just feel like maybe they'll make me feel like, okay, Bianca, keep it together because you can't be sobbing with all your friends around. It might help.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:29

Oh man, this it's a tough one because this is this like I said it a couple times in this episode already. This was a great film that I really don't want to be fetching again. You know what I mean? I respect it. I think it was a really good, unique horror film. I do think it's worth a rewatch. I think there's more to get out of the film. I just don't know if I can do it. I don't even know if I have the desire to.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:53

I've watched this so many times. I will continue to watch this. Now I was actually just even considering at the beginning of the movie what we see and how Andy just responds to this whole scene and you know what's gonna happen at the end of it. This movie gets so much better every single time you watch it, and it hurts, don't get me wrong, but it's the good kind of hurt that we need to pay attention to.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:14

I think it's a little too close to home for stuff in my own family, so it's it's definitely not something I'm I'm looking forward to watching again.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:21

Completely fair. But I can't wait to see how our audience felt about this movie. I know this is one that was in high demand from our listeners, but for now, there you have it, folks. Good boy from 2025 has earned a universal slash. I wish we only had a robust discussion here, but it doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:37

If you want to find out what's lurking in the basement of this old creaky episode and gurf and go further than this episode, consider supporting the show by visiting patreon.com slash hackerslash. This is where you can enjoy even more of the show, including bonus content, extended episodes, movie nominations, and live shows.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:55

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember mankind has left the caves, but the darkness haunts us still.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:01

What? Too scary for you.