No one is safe in a horror film. From slashers and zombie fare to found footage and religious horror, the genre is known for challenging our ideas of mortality and threatening society’s most vulnerable. We often praise those filmmakers bold enough to put cinematic children in peril while watching muscle-bound characters die to demonstrate the strength of the story’s Big Bad. Though horror thumbs its nose at traditional ideas of safety, one taboo remains sacrosanct. No matter what happens, the dog must not die. Director Ben Leonberg describes this curious phenomenon to Bloody Disgusting, noting, “In movies, you can kill off thousands of people, beloved figures, even kids, and audiences will barely flinch. But touch a single hair on a dog’s head and people will lose their minds!”
Leonberg’s Good Boy explores this assertion with the story of a haunted house told through the eyes of a brown and white Retriever. When Todd (Shane Jensen) moves into an old family home, his faithful dog Indy senses imminent danger. But rather than a simple harbinger to be forgotten once the ghosts emerge, this intrepid pet becomes Todd’s chief defender and the story’s unquestioned protagonist. We follow the horror through Indy’s eyes, battling a supernatural threat we never quite understand. All we know is that danger abounds, and man’s best friend must save the day. This unique concept succeeds thanks to an emotive performance by Indy himself and extensive planning, training, and treats from Leonberg, who also happens to be the pet’s real-life companion.
To accomplish this daunting narrative technique, Leonberg took notes from two of the genre’s most iconic dogs. The idea for Indy’s bravery was initially inspired by E. Buzz, the loyal Golden Retriever who guides us through the doomed Freeling home in Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist. While E. Buzz and Indy face similar threats, another four-legged actor sets the bar for Good Boy and its impressive star. John Carpenter’s sci-fi classic The Thing opens with a Timber Wolf/Alaskan Malamute hybrid named Jed bounding through the Antarctic snow as a helicopter tries to shoot him down. When the unnamed animal reaches an American research station, the perplexed crew springs into action. Clark (Richard Masur), the unit’s dog handler, immediately bonds with the furry refugee while station commander Garry (Donald Moffat) takes out his mysterious assailant. Ostensibly unharmed, the dog is adopted by the research team and spends the next few hours recovering in their living quarters.
Surprisingly well-behaved, the gentle wolfdog sits at heel when not silently roaming the station’s halls, but what appears to be superior training feels distinctly sinister upon rewatch. When Clark finally leads him into the kennel, the dog gingerly perches amidst the rest of the sled team, casually lounging in the warm hay. But just moments after the lights go out, a pulsing begins under Jed’s furry skin. The other dogs bark and whine as the intruder’s face splits apart, sending blood-red tentacles and mysterious goo flailing out in all directions. The strange dog is revealed to be a literal monster in wolf’s clothing. After lying dormant in the ice for thousands of years, this sinister Thing was resurrected by the Norwegian team and proceeded to decimate their research base. With the power to consume and replicate organic life, it has used the dog’s nonthreatening appearance to infiltrate the American outpost. We can now read sinister intent in Jed’s stoic actions as he silently surveils the research team, then prowls the halls in search of prey. Describing these unsettling scenes, Leonberg exclaims, “There are shots of him just wandering the outpost, essentially ‘casing the joint, ‘where the synchronicity between his behavior and the camera work is so precise it blows my mind.”
Carpenter also mentions Jed’s uncanny talent in a commentary for the film. “You could do a dolly shot with him and he would not look at the camera, or the director, or the crew,” the director remembered. “Amazing work for an animal. He was really, really good.” Maser notes the dog’s unsettling onset persona and habit of scaring scene partners with an eerily focused, unblinking stare, “He did everything like a wolf. He would never bark. He never growled.” The more ferocious aspects of Jed’s wolfen heritage lend a sinister quality to this withering gaze, allowing us to see at once a gentle companion looking for warmth and a shapeshifting alien preparing to strike. Leonberg notes, “That intensity and the use of Jed’s subjectivity were hugely inspirational for us while working on Good Boy with Indy.”
Jed’s malleable performance perfectly amplifies the film’s themes of intense paranoia and distrust. Witnessing the animal’s desperate escape from certain death at the hands of his former owner, we’re tempted to take him into our arms and, like Clark, shower him with much-needed affection. With soulful eyes and a gentle demeanor, he seems perfectly safe to roam on his own and seamlessly fades into the background. However, the dog’s arrival sets off a deadly chain of events, leaving the outpost demolished and the crew mostly dead. Should the Thing first disguised in canine form ever make it to more populated land, it could theoretically destroy the human race. Like a fluffy and lovable Trojan Horse, this outwardly delightful dog could unleash a plague of monstrous assimilation that brings about the end of the world.
After this impressive debut, Jed would go on to star in many more films, becoming a stalwart of the wilderness subgenre until his death in 1995. Also known for his work in White Fang and Disney’s The Journey of Natty Gann, Jed will forever be associated with Carpenter’s icy masterpiece while holding the distinct honor of introducing Rob Bottin’s jaw-dropping special effects. In a similarly lauded film debut, Indy becomes our conduit through another chilling and dangerous world. While dazzling us with their remarkably human performances, these canine characters capture our hearts and cause us to reevaluate our own furry friends. Perhaps the pet curled up beside us is capable of more than companionship. He could be an alien in disguise, hell-bent on replicating our human form, or the last line of defense against the ghosts and ghouls that emerge to threaten us while we sleep. Whether hero or villain, Jed and Indy and their stellar performances redefine what it means to be a “good boy.”
Good Boy releases in theaters this Friday, October 3rd. Grab tickets now.
The post How John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ Inspired the Canine Star of ‘Good Boy’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.