Good Boy — a horror movie that tells its tale from a dog’s point of view — is getting a wide theatrical release after a big response to the film’s trailer.
Directed by Ben Lonberg and co-written by Leonberg and Alex Cannon, Good Boy debuted at the SXSW Film & TV Festival in March. An Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) co-production with its horror streamer subsidiary Shudder, Good Boy stars Leonberg’s dog Indy, who is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.
The official logline for Good Boy reads, “A loyal dog moves to a rural family home with his owner, Todd (Shane Jensen), 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.”
The film’s website further teases, “Do you ever wonder why your dog stares at empty corners, barks for no reason, or refuses to go into the basement? Good Boy is the story of a dog who sees everything that goes bump in the night. No talking pets, just terrifying scares.”
Originally intended to be a limited theatrical release, Good Boy, thanks to the surge in popularity of the film’s trailer on YouTube — which is homing in on 1.7 million views as of the publication of this article — will now be coming to theaters as a wide release, IndieWire reported.
According to the publication, Good Boy will be released in theaters on Oct. 3, which places it smack dab in the middle of spooky season.
“We have different windows for different types of films, and we’re working on that for Good Boy as we speak,” IFC Entertainment Group head Scott Shooman told IndieWire. “We never want to pre-announce a date prematurely. What we can say is we hope everyone sees it in theaters on October 3rd, and that’s really where we’re pointing people right now.”
‘Good Boy,’ Rated PG-13, Follows The Release Of Two R-Rated IFC Horror Hits
The forthcoming release of Good Boy follows the success of two IFC horror hits in 2024: writer-director brothers Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes’ supernatural thriller Late Night with the Devil, starring David Dastmalchian; and writer-director Chris Nash’s slasher movie In a Violent Nature.
The big difference between those two films and Good Boy is that Late Night with the Devil and In a Violent Nature are R-rated films, while Good Boy is not.
“It’s a PG-13 film,” IFC’s Scott Shooman told IndieWire. “I don’t think there’s any age limit on loving dogs.”
Shooman’s observation about people loving dogs appears to be evident in online searches about Good Boy. According to IndieWire, Google Trends searches for “Does the dog in Good Boy die?” have spiked in recent days.
Good Boy will be released in theaters nationwide on Oct. 3.
