Good boy became one of The most unexpected small hits of 2025The Film Film with Ghosts from the first director Ben Leonberg with the participation of his own retriever Nov Scotia Duck Tolling Indy has earned more than 2.25 million dollars for the first weekend with a budget of 2.3 million dollars and opened Widely positive reviewsThe field but part of the word in the mouth in the mouth, which makes it a hard indie, may be related to protracted questions about the end of its rock climbing.
The smart marketing of the film depends on a simple emotional hook: everyone wants Make sure the dog survivesLeonberg, which is also the real owner of Indie, spoke with Polygon On the end of the film, separating its interpretation and understanding of its last moments.
[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for the ending of Good Boy.]
Good boy Indie and its owner Todd (Shein Jensen) follow when they move from city life to a secluded country house of the late grandfather Todd. Soon after they arrive, Indie begins to discover strange, supernatural phenomena – shadows, ghostly presence and inexplicable sounds – which are invisible or incomprehensible to people. Since Todd's health worsens, and his behavior is becoming more unstable, Indie’s loyalty is tested.
After Todd will finally give in to the darkness, he is transferred to the basement, where his faithful dog companion follows. Indi is trying to return his owner from darkness, but Todd has gone too far. Completely covered with black garbage, Todd assures Indie that he is a good dog, but he “cannot save him”, and that Todd “should stay here”. Todd melts into the skeleton and retreats into darkness, with a whimper of indie, remaining behind, closed doors of the basements, and there is no way to get out. “I always looked at it like, indie at the intersection,” says Leonberg. “Its owner could not avoid his fate. And indie, as it were, is waiting and can stay there forever, in this house. ”
But in the next scene, we see the door of the cellars, opened by Vera, the sister of Todd, is looking for her brother and his dog.
“With the advent of my sister, this is the last choice:“ I stay in the dark, or am I going into the light? “, Says Leonberg. “Ultimately, he decides to come into the light, and we see that in the credits, in fact, he leaves with faith. Therefore, I always consider this as a happy ending – that there is more life ahead for the character Indie. ”
Good boyThe end is a choice of life from soreness. In the film, grandfather Todd also experienced a similar supernatural death with his faithful dog, whose remains in the same basement where Indie leaves its owner. Choosing to go with Vera, indie makes a choice that grandfather's dog had to make.
Good boyAccording to its director, the end also works at a deeper level. Most of the stories about ghosts and ghost films in some way explore morality, allowing people to reflect on their own anxieties and anxiety about death. But in the future with a dog, without understanding death, Good boy The genre completely redeshes.
“This story is an inversion of how most people learn about death,” he says. “[Good Boy] Just imagines shoes on the other leg. How would it look like a dog who feels constantly growing, closer and closer, invisible, dark power? What would this story be for them? “
