Good Boy is one of the most talked about horror films of 2025 so far, following its world premiere at SXSW festival. Directed by Ben Leonberg, the unique haunted house film is told from the perspective of a dog, and not just any dog, the four-legged best friend of Leonberg and his wife, Kari Fischer, who co-produced the film. The film follows Indy, owned by Todd (Shane Jensen), with the pair relocating to Todd's grandfather's (Larry Fessenden) home after he suffers a mysterious medical emergency. This is despite Todd's sister, Vera (Arielle Friedman), repeatedly warning the duo against the move, speculating that a malevolent supernatural force resides there. It doesn't take long for her suspicions to be proved correct, with Indy sensing an evil presence that threatens them both.

It has received rave reviews from critics from early screenings, praising both Indy's stellar performance as well as the terrifying atmosphere Leonberg manages to create with the simplistic set and premise. But the creation of Good Boy was not without its challenges, which the director explained in an interview with FILMHOUNDS alongside Indy. “On most conventional films, it's a 12-hour workday, day after day, until the film is done. Dogs can't do that for several reasons, not the least of which is that their attention span is only a few hours long,” he explained. “They say not to work with kids and animals, and that's one of the reasons. We filmed for over 400 days across three years, spending an hour or two a day shooting. I think the most you would ever get is three hours. Time being the most important resource was, I think, one of the most difficult things.”

He continued: “Beyond that, the dog is an enormous X Factor, meaning I would frequently spend all day setting up for a shot. My wife and I were the entire cast and crew for principal photography for the period in which we were filming in our own house, decorated to look that way. I had a stuffed doll version of Indy that I would use as the model to then use his few hours as efficiently as possible. And then Indy would just want to do something else. You can't really fight it, you just kind of have to embrace it. And maybe something else he wants to do works or it's better.”

You can watch an edited version of the interview with Good Boy's Leonberg and Indy in our video below. The full interview will be available in the upcoming print issue of FILMHOUNDS Magazine.