Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. I went to hell and back to get audio description for this. you are welcome.

There’s something truly magical about someone taking it upon themselves to launch their film career with an inventive horror film shot from an animal’s perspective. And for the director to choose to use his own dog, and not a trained dog ready to hit every mark the first time, it ended up being a painstakingly long process full of extra footage, heavy editing, and the hope it will all pay off. Considering that Indy the dog has gotten some individual recognition for his work, and Good Boy landed a theatrical release, I would say it was worth it.

What is a bit more questionable is my journey to audio description. I was gifted an advance screener for review purposes, and it did not have audio description. Even when I tried asking for it, I got standard radio silence from IFC/Shudder. then, this film came to me in a couple For Your consideration packages, none of which had audio description. It even debuted on AMC Plus, sans description, despite the service being fully capable of supporting secondary audio tracks. And, this film does have audio description. It released theatrically with it, and you can pay to rent it. The problem is the consistency in it, leaving us to pay a blind tax to track down the specific places where IFC has bestowed accessibility. In a world running as fast as they can away from diversity, equity, and inclusivity, I think it is more likely this will continue to happen than actually get fixed. This is not a political climate interested in expanding access, but rather restricting it.

nevertheless, after my first screening, I did post a non-review, which was my way of reminding blind and low vision audiences of the likely barriers wee face after the film leaves theatres, and encouraged those to see a fresh new story on screen.

Loosely, the film is entirely from Indy’s perspective, as he moves with his owner to a new home that seems to have some history of its own. Indy doesn’t process things like we do, and director Ben Leonberg wisely figures out. It isn’t a kitschy way like we do for kids in films like The Secret Lives Of pets, but more like what your dog might react to when it doesn’t understand what it is seeing. they bark. they growl. They might whimper a bit. If you’ve ever seen your dog barking at something that makes no sense at all, and wondered what he’s seeing, Ben thought that too, and made a movie about it.

but also, why this film works, is that it maintains Indy’s perspective, so characters are not always fully visible, because your dog is like five feet shorter than you. So, many times, there isn’t eye contact. Maintaining that perspective is another strength. And, not to get too spoilery, but this year, we’ve dealt a bit with dogs grieving. The wonderful performance in The Friend is a dog grieving the loss of his owner, Merv has a dog depressed that his owners break up, and Indy is running a real chance of having to say goodbye to his owner, as the paranormal activity reaches a fever pitch.

If I had to be the bad guy, with some negatives, I could tell this film was cast on a budget. I didn’t love any of the human performances, but I didn’t hate them. they just felt very college student film level. And, honestly, while the movie is engaging, fun, and totally inventive, it isn’t scary. it does have one other job, to actually be scary, as it is in the horror genre, and I just felt like it never got there.

Keep your tail wagging, because you’re in for a treat in the form of Good Boy, which features the most unique breakthrough performance of the year in Indy The Dog.

Having had the displeasure/pleasure of watching this without/with audio description, the bar was so low, I just needed some functional audio description to get me from point A to B, and this delivered on that. Considering our actual lead can’t talk, and this is a horror film with some things going bump in the night, audio description if you are blind or low vision is mandatory. Watching it without it makes it unwatchable as a film.

Fresh: Final Grade: 7.9/10