Contains spoilers for “Good Boy”
When the first trailer for “Good Boy” dropped, the internet had precisely one question on its mind: Does the dog make it out alive? Google searches for “does the dog die Good Boy” jumped by 2,000% following the trailer release, and it makes sense. The entire premise of the movie revolves around a dog named Indy (playing himself) and his human, Todd (Shane Jensen), going to an abandoned farm all on their own when mysterious things start occurring.
No one wants to see a dog die in a movie, horror or otherwise. It’s funny because you can have as many humans as you want meet gruesome ends and most viewers will be okay with that, but if a dog so much as gets a scratch, then people riot. The protagonists of horror movies often fail to make it out alive, and “Good Boy” is very much Indy’s movie, hence the widespread viewer hesitation here.
“Good Boy” has been a resounding success for director Ben Leonberg, Indy’s real owner. Critics have been raving about it, with Looper’s own review of “Good Boy” calling it “a genuinely moving tale about the love between a dog and its owner.” But, even though we now definitively know what happens to the dog, there are still some questions lingering when the credits roll on “Good Boy.” Read on for our explainer of the film’s ending.
What you need to remember about the plot of Good Boy
“Good Boy” opens in ominous fashion. Indy’s in a dark room with TV static blaring. We then realize Indy’s owner, Todd, is having a medical episode that’s rendered him unresponsive, but fortunately, his sister Vera (Arielle Friedman) comes at the perfect time to call for help. Todd’s suffering from an undisclosed illness, and as we learn later, it’s progressed to the point where not even experimental treatments are available.
For the time being, Todd takes Indy to his late grandfather’s farm house, who had a dog of his own that appears to Indy in the form of an incorporeal vision. As Todd deals with Vera’s perpetual calls, Indy often explores the rest of the empty house, hearing things that go bump in the night. There are even brief glimpses of some kind of humanoid entity whose hand will reach out toward Indy before drawing back. And if that isn’t bad enough, Todd’s demeanor changes as the days go on. He was always loving toward Indy, but he starts lashing out and pushing Indy away when he just wants affection.
One night, Indy sees Todd banging his head against the basement door and manages to get him back to his senses by licking him. As more strange things occur, Indy leaps out of a window and runs, getting caught in a fox trap. Todd finds Indy and brings him back to the farm house but chains him in the yard, ominously telling the canine, “I told you to stay.”
What happened at the end of Good Boy?
The grotesque monster hand tries to pull Indy by the chain into a dog house, but Indy fights back and gets loose. Hearing Todd in distress, Indy breaks into the basement, finding the skeleton of Todd’s grandfather’s dog on the steps, and then races through the house to get to Todd’s bedroom. Todd’s delighted to see Indy and apologizes, but Indy still seems in distress. When Todd lifts a lantern, he reveals his own lifeless body on the bed — Todd is now a spirit, one that Indy can sense, and he has passed away as a result of his illness. However, the journey isn’t over yet.
The ghost pulls Todd’s spirit out of the room via a chain, with Indy following close behind. Indy makes it to the subterranean layer and comes upon a cave where Todd’s screams can be heard. He pulls Todd out of the cavern only for the humanoid entity to return, coating Todd’s body in the same black substance covering itself. Before being pulled away, Todd tells Indy, “You’re a good dog. But you can’t save me. You gotta stay here.” Todd’s face turns skeletal, and he’s drawn back into the cavern. Later, Vera, crying from likely finding her brother’s body, opens the basement door to find Indy still there. Indy hears a whistle and looks back toward the cave a couple of times before climbing out.
Does the dog die in Good Boy?
For anyone reading this before seeing “Good Boy,” you can rest easy: Indy doesn’t die. Over the course of the film, he thoroughly cements his place as one of the best doggos to ever grace the big screen. Seriously, give Indy an honorary Oscar made out of chicken and green beans to commemorate appearing in almost every frame of a feature-length horror film.
Of course, you didn’t need to wait until after the movie came out to figure out whether the dog died in “Good Boy.” After the virality of the first trailer, IFC launched another promo featuring social media comments from people saying that they’ll be incredibly sad if anything happens to the dog. The spot ends with the message, “You won’t be disappointed,” which certainly seemed to confirm that Indy would be fine without explicitly saying so.
It turns out that there was never a version of “Good Boy” where Indy went to that great dog park in the sky. In a Q&A with Next Best Picture, the makers of the film confirmed that they never planned on killing Indy. Ben Leonberg was grateful they didn’t go down that route, as he mentions, “Probably the third most common comment on the trailer is ‘If something happens to the dog, I’m gonna go John Wick on the director.'” It’s a good lesson for all filmmakers; don’t let anything happen to adorable dogs.
What the ending of Good Boy means
Indy may survive “Good Boy,” but that doesn’t mean the ending isn’t utterly heartbreaking, especially if you view the supernatural occurrences as a metaphor. It’s possible there weren’t any ghosts at all, and all of the strange happenings are actually a result of a dog trying to make sense of his best friend dying. Everything in the movie is from Indy’s perspective. Indy can’t comprehend why his best friend would suddenly be nasty toward him, but if there’s some kind of malevolent spirit around, that could help Indy understand what’s going on, especially with all the strange, new smells throwing him off. It could well be that everything we see play out in the film is a product of Indy’s imagination, with the dog essentially coming up with a story to explain why Todd is acting the way he is.
In the beginning, Vera talks with Todd about Indy’s odd behavior, like searching for something that isn’t there, and brings up how dogs can detect medical problems. Indy likely knew something was wrong with Todd and could also probably smell all kinds of other dour things in the old farm house. The skeletal remains of the grandfather’s dog likely contributed to the visions Indy had of another dog walking around the house, for example. Many horror movies end with the protagonist dying, but it’s usually more interesting when the hero suffers a fate worse than death. In this case, the worst thing for the protagonist, Indy, wouldn’t be death, it would be losing his best friend. No one wants to see a dog die, but “Good Boy” shows how dogs don’t want to lose their humans, either.
“Good Boy” is in theaters and on Shudder now