Many writers and filmmakers have presented their fictitious outlets on the kind of animal horror, but none did it like Stephen King, the master of horror literature. Even 42 years later, images of soaked blood Of whichOne of the most terrifying figures in King’s literary universe continues to shake the public with fear. The 1983 cinematographic adaptation of his novel delivered a premise of simple and brutally effective horror: a faithful and loving family dog, a Saint-Bernard, is bitten by a rabid bat and slowly transforms into an insane and unstoppable killing machine. It was a story that exploited a deep and primitive fear of nature turning against humans, and believe it or not, the “killer dog” became a powerful horror trope.

For decades, Of which was a benchmark for animal horror, especially known as a canine monster. However, a new horror success takes this inheritance and completely returns it to his head. The thriller 2025 Good boyWith a new 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes, has quietly become one of the most discussed horror films of the year. Ben Leonberg’s film places his canine advance not as a threat this time but as a heroic ally. It is a fascinating evolution, a story that shows how more empathetic and introspective has become more empathetic.

While Cujo was a tortured soul, Indy is a faithful protector

Image via Warner Bros.

The horror of Of which is simple, direct and unforgettable. It is the story of an ordinary dog ​​and in a good mood which, while running after a rabbit, is bitten by a rabid bat. Publish this tragic incident, Of which turns into a killing machine due to rabies. The film’s atmosphere is very claustrophobic, which is typical and expected for a story by Stephen King. However, in Of whichintensity almost reaches the level of The brilliant When Jack Torrance continues his wife to kill her.

Of which The sequence most famous trap a mother, gave, and her young son, Tad, in a Ford Pinto broken down under the cooking sun while the massive and enraged Saint-Bernard terrorizes them tirelessly, launching bloody and desperate attacks against the car. The scene is painful to look at because, as a member of the public, you want these people to survive the attack, but at the same time, the weight of the tragedy of a soft and fun boy who is getting mad is extremely heavy.

Good boyOn the other hand, takes this whole equation and the reverse. The film is directed by a retriever named Indy, and it is not bad; He is there to fight evil. The story follows Indy and its owner, Todd, who moves to an isolated house in the woods while Todd’s health begins to fail. While Todd slowly succumbs to a mysterious disease that makes him erratic and aggressive, and sometimes completely disturbed, Indy is the only one who can feel the real supernatural threat that haunts their house.

Where King Of which used dog as a source of chaos, fear and threat, Good boy Use his dog as a loyalty, empathy and protection mirror. Indy is a friend, an ally of trust and very alert with regard to his human. This inversion does not only change the intrigue; It transforms the whole emotional nucleus of history. Good boy The director, Ben Leorberg, describes the approach of the film as “no superpowers. No voiceover. Just the limits of a pet”.

If Cujo showed us the worst nightmare of an animal parent, Good Boy imagines what our dogs see when we look away.

Cujo’s heritage – fear, subsext and survival in King’s most frightening history

Image via Warner Bros.

Part of what makes Of which Such a horror classic is that it was never only a killer dog. Under the surface of the characteristics of the creature, it was a deeply human and tragic story about a family that is already collapsing, a theme that many initial criticisms have missed. The critical reception of the film at the time was deeply divided. Variety Called her a “dull and uncommon entry into the kind of horror”, and Roger Ebert rejected him as “terrible”.

But others, like Leonard Maltin, congratulated him as a “really scary” film which “constructed slowly but surely”. This split was probably due to the concentration of the patient’s patient on his human drama. The central family, the Trentons, is in crisis long before the dog became an enemy for them. The mother, Donna, has an affair, and her husband is dealing with a professional crisis. The family is broken and their life is filled with repressed guilt.

This layer of human drama is a classic touch by Stephen King. King himself has a complicated relationship with history, admitting in his memoirs on writing that it is the only novel he remembers “barely[s] Writing at all “because of its own difficulties at the time. This real parallel of feeling a loss of control adds a powerful subtext to history. In addition, the performance of the film really elevates the intensity of what was happening in this family.

Dee Wallace delivered an incredible performance as Donna, a character who could have been a simple queen of cries. However, Wallace transformed it into a powerful and empathetic representation of a mother’s fierce will to survive. King himself has defended his performance for years, declaring in an interview:

The end of the film was also a discord. In King’s dark novel, the young son dies. Wallace, however, insisted for producers that “the kid cannot die”, a change to the king approved later, admitting that he had received more hateful mail for this part of the book than everything he had ever written.

Good boy marks a new era of animal horror

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Good boy Feels like the next logical step in the evolution of animal horror. This step reflects how the public relationship with the two animals and the kind of horror itself has changed in the past two years. And with Good boyThe creators have built something on a very simple but authentic curiosity that still persists in the minds of animal parents: can my dog ​​see ghosts?

This vision was carried out thanks to an unconventional production process. Director Ben Leorberg made the film for three years with his own dog, Indy, in a process he compared to the production of a documentary. The result is a film which, as the critics noted, offers a unique perspective on the haunted genre of the house. The horror of the film is lived through the limited sensory point of view of the dog, a choice that reinforces the suspense through what the dog can hear and feel, rather than what is explicitly shown.

Another practical element of the film is that he refuses to transform his canine hero into superheroes. Indy is not presented as a powerful and super intelligent dog that suddenly develops a human mind in crisis. Instead, it is represented in a realistic way; He is afraid, he groans and is often helpless, capable of doing what any normal and faithful dog could. This realism is essential because it reveals that the real source of horror, from the point of view of the dog, is not even the supernatural entity. It seems much more frightened by the deterioration of its owner, the physical and mental state, transforming the story of a simple story of ghosts into a much more relatable and emotional fear of looking at a loved one and being helpless to stop it.

This change also reflects the growing interest of modern horror to portray empathy and to use social and human problems as a source of fear. Good boy does not concern a character arc; The director describes the dog as a “static protagonist” which is “as good and pure at the beginning”. The role of the public is to fear for him. This empathetic hook is so strong that the film found an audience crossed.

As Leorberg noted him projections of the festival, people said to him: “I’m not a fan of horror, but I’m so happy to have seen that … I saw that because I like dogs!” While some criticisms have noted that the approach without dialogue of the film and centered on the dog may feel “a little on the slim” or repetitive side, most agree that its emotional power is undeniable. As The Hollywood Reporter declared, which “gives the film its emotional power is the flawless loyalty of Indy towards its beloved owner”.

By letting the dog be the eyes, ears and soul of history, Good boy do not erase Of which powerful inheritance; He evolves.

Good boy Led his audience to a conclusion that manages to be sad, tragic, but also strangely ensuring and deeply sincere. And that is perhaps what makes the film so quietly disturbing: not the old fear that our best friend will turn one day, but the new and difficult idea that in our darkest moments, they could be the only ones not to do it.

Good boy

Release date

October 3, 2025

Execution time

73 minutes

Director

Ben Leonberg

Writers

Alex Cannon, Ben Leonberg

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