Good Boy

THE DOG DOESN’T DIE! Don’t worry, folks.

With that out of the way, we dig into 2025’s Good Boy, a low-budget haunted-house horror told largely from a dog’s perspective, and talk about why it’s basically 75 minutes of being up close with Indie (and why that’s either a feature or a bug).

We cover the film’s SXSW buzz, long shoot with an untrained dog, and surprising box office success, then unpack what worked for us: the eerie atmosphere, subtle shadowy scares, dream/vision sequences, and the ambiguity around whether the cabin is haunted, the family is cursed, or we’re just watching death creep in as the owner grows sicker and more unstable.

We also discuss pacing, the fox trap subplot, the muddy “reaper” finale, and why the dog-centered viewpoint makes the story uniquely unsettling—plus, yes, the dog doesn’t die.

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Good Boy (2025)

Episode 506, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Well, this week we have decided to go with a pretty new movie, Craig’s choice. This is a dog of a film. Good Boy. Oh, was that bad? That was pretty bad. Sorry. This is Good Boy from 2025, last year, starring a dog. And I knew why you picked this from the very beginning.

You just wanted to see a dog for an hour and 15 minutes.

Craig: Yep.

Todd: And that’s basically what it is. We are looking up very, very up close and personal with a beautiful little dog named Indie. I believe this film premiered at South by Southwest, got a very good reception, went to theaters and stuff all over the world.

Eventually, I think it’s in streaming now. It was shot over the course of three years, I think about 400 days over the course of three years, just because the main actor, who’s a dog, wasn’t a trained dog. It was just the writer-director’s dog, but he insisted on using it because he liked its expressiveness.

It took a long time to shoot, but only cost about $70,000, and grossed to date, I think, over 8.7 million at the box office worldwide. Nice. So that’s pretty doggone good. Had you seen this before we watched it for this, uh, this, this episode?

Craig: Yeah. I remember reading about this at some point before it came out, and I was…

You know, you’re right. I’m just, uh, I’m a dog person. I like dogs, and so I was just… The fact that it was, you know, about a dog was interesting to me. But what was more interesting was that it’s shot kind of… I don’t know. It’s not shot from the dog’s perspective. It’s not like POV most of the time. Right.

But the narrative is from the dog’s perspective, basically. I mean- Yeah … we’re riding along with the dog, and so I was, uh, intrigued by that. And so, yes, as soon as it became available to stream, I watched it, and I really liked it. And I talked to our friend Heather about it, and she saw it, and she liked it.

And I’ve had it on my list of movies for the podcast for a long time, but we’ve just never gotten around to it. And I, I just kind of picked it at random this week, and I’m interested to hear what you think of it. ‘Cause watching it again, the first time, all I really remember about it, you know, is, is kind of the basics of the plot and that it’s from the dog’s perspective, and that I liked it.

I remembered that. I didn’t remember a whole lot of the details, and watching it again, I kept wondering what your reaction to it would be- … ’cause though I know you are an animal lover in general, you’re not exactly a dog person. Like, and I wonder if you kind of have to be a… A- again, that’s why I prefaced it with I know you’re an animal lover in general.

You just tend to be more of, if, of a cat person, I guess if you, uh- Yeah.

Todd: Yeah, if I have my choice, I’m more of a cat person. Right. And that’s purely selfish reasons. Like, uh, if I’m gonna have an animal, and I, I grew up with cats, so I’m a little biased that way too. Gosh, until we moved to China, I’ve always had a cat in the house or two from when I was a kid.

We had a cat named Taco who was a You know, lovely member of the family and had her own quirks, and then, you know, when I went off to college she passed away ’cause she was getting old and had a bacterial infection and that took her. And then, uh, yeah, later, you know, my parents got two other cats, and then when I got married, Vic and I had cats, and we had to give them away before we came to China.

I gave them away to my aunt. But I understand. You know, I’m an animal lover. I love animals, I love pets. But for me, selfishly, cats I can manage because cats don’t require a lot of attention.

Craig: That’s right.

Todd: And dogs require so much attention, they might as well be another child in the house. In fact, sometimes cats don’t want you to give them too much attention, and I kind of like that about them.

I like that they’re independent and-

Craig: Yeah …

Todd: you know, they’re, they’re quirky.

Craig: They are independent and they’re… Yeah, and they’re far- They’re, like, they’re way more low-maintenance than dogs. Yeah. They’re just a lot… Uh, y- you know, I remember back in, you know, the days when I left the house, if you would need to leave for, like, a weekend or whatever, you could just leave a big huge bowl of food and a big huge bowl of water or, like, leave water in the bathtub or whatever, and cats are fine by themselves for a few days.

Dogs certainly not, which is one of, one of the only issues that I have with this movie. It’s about a dog, and he locks that dog up in the house and never takes it to the bathroom.

Todd: That’s a very good point, right? We never see that. We never see him really taking him for a walk, to the bathroom, anything like that.

And

Craig: that’s a, that’s a big, that’s a big part of your life if you have a dog in the house. Yeah. Like gotta be taking him to the bathroom on the regular.

Todd: Managing some oth- some- something else or someone else’s pooping and peeing schedule all day long, that’s just a bridge too far for me. I had a kid. I have a kid, and thank God we’re past that phase where we have to do that.

He can go on his own now. It’s fantastic.

Craig: Yeah. Yeah.

Todd: And I figure… And I felt like as soon as, as soon as Kenji was potty trained, I’d almost felt like my, my work as a parent was half over. I don’t want to sound like a, a- You’ve

Craig: given him the essentials.

Todd: Yeah, that’s right. It’s, it’s important. The stuff that’s not gonna embarrass him on a first date.

Everything else, whatever. You know, I don’t want to sound like an i- like an, an asshole, but there’s little that is more off-putting… I shouldn’t say off-putting. Frustrating, not the right word either. Just kind of a bummer Whenever you’re hanging out with friends with dogs, at any given time they’re gonna chime in with, “Oh, you know what?

I gotta go ’cause I gotta take the dog out.” “Oh, this, this spontaneous thing that we came up s- with sounds like a lot of fun, but unfortunately we can’t do it because I gotta get home to the dog.” You know? You- y- that, that kind of thing is just such a part of a dog owner’s life that I just, I don’t… I can tell I couldn’t tolerate it.

It doesn’t, it doesn’t fit with my life, just like, uh, a lot of things don’t. Smoking-

Craig: That’s one of the main reasons for having a dog is so that you can do that.

Todd: Well, I, I can see where getting out of the situations is pretty, yeah, it’s pretty handy for that. Don’t, don’t get me wrong, having a kid works the same way.

Craig: Right.

Todd: I’ve used that excuse many a time. But, uh, but it’s a real thing, you know? You’re, like you said, you’ve gotta, you’ve gotta do these things on a regular basis with the dog, which makes him more maintenance. But

Craig: yeah. I get it, ’cause I was just gonna say you and …