Published Apr 25, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT Ben Leonberg's Good Boy is an atmospheric treat The most unexpected horror movie of 2025 redefines a classic genre trope Image: Independent Film Company/Shudder Pets sensing supernatural threats before humans is a time-tested horror trope. In The Conjuring (2013), we’re clued in on the unsettling events to come when the Perron family dog, Sadie, refuses to enter the new farmhouse. Similarly, the dogs at the Antarctic outpost are the first to sense the shape-shifting life form in John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). These instances usually start with a pet staring intently at an empty corner at night, or barking at something that evades human senses. Ben Leonberg captures this sense of foreboding in his haunted horror flick, Good Boy , which is framed entirely from the perspective of Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Indy’s expressive eyes constantly perceive shadowy threats no one else can see, which lends to a high-concept scary movie worth checking out.…