- Content: “Good Boys Stick by Your Side”
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What You Need To Know:
GOOD BOY is well made, with an incredible performance by the dog. However, the lighting is often too dark. Worse, the movie is littered with supernatural elements and a shadowy being that represents Death (like the “Grim Reaper”). Total victory isn’t achieved against the main villain. That said, the dog’s positive character beautifully imparts a nice Christian, moral lesson that we’re supposed to love one another, no matter what happens. GOOD BOY also has seven strong obscenities and profanities. So, the movie’s negative content makes GOOD BOY excessive and unacceptable.
Content:
Dominant pagan, occult worldview where a dark shadowy being menaces a young man and his dog in a haunted house with visions by the dog of a grandfather ghost and a dog ghost, the movie’s shadowy monsters are described as vague “supernatural forces,” but the shadowy being is also reminiscent of Death, but mitigated by solid Christian, moral elements centered in the positive character of a dog who sticks besides his human owner and is with him through thick and thin, good health and bad heath (movie is told from dog’s perspective), the dog beautifully portrays the idea that we’re supposed to love one another and thus imparts a positive Christian, moral lesson, even though total victory against the shadowy being is not achieved;
Eight obscenities (including three “f” words, two “s” words and three “h” words), one strong profanity using the name of Jesus Christ, and three GD profanities, man urinates, dog urinates, and sick young man coughs up blood more than once as he gets sicker;
Light, sometimes scary, violence such as people grabbing and pulling the dog (one instance is pulling dog under a bed), dog bites someone’s hand, and monster grabs and pulls dog’s chain while dog is attached;
No sex;
Two instances of upper male nudity when the male character wakes up;
No alcohol use;
No smoking or drugs; and,
There was an example of a bad role model and dysfunctional family. When the owner’s health was deteriorating, he started to lash out against people and his dog. He also started an argument with his sister when she was concerned about his health.
More Detail:
GOOD BOY starts off in a dark room. A puppy retriever named Indy is right beside his owner, Todd. Todd starts to get a phone call from his sister, Vera, when blood starts to drip on the phone. Cut to Todd with blood pouring out of his mouth. Vera opens up the door and sees the situation, then proceeds to call an ambulance.
A montage then shows Indy and Todd growing up together. Indy grows up from a puppy to an adult dog, and Todd becomes a young man. However, Todd gets sick with some serious health problems. When he’s discharged from the hospital, he decides to take Indy and move into the house his grandfather left to him. Once they get there, things immediately seem off, as Indy sees a dark figure behind the car, but the figure disappears when Todd returns.
The next morning, Todd and Indy visit the family cemetery. Indy sits and watches over Todd as a man sneaks up behind them. He gets closer before coming up to pet the dog. He introduces himself as their neighbor, Mr. Downs. He and Todd have a quick conversation, where Mr. Downs offers help to get the power running. While chatting, they mention how Todd’s grandfather died but they never found his dog.
That night they go to bed, and Indy starts to get visions of grandpa’s golden retriever being attacked. The next day, Todd leaves Indy home alone. Suddenly, Indy starts to hear a dog whining, and it’s coming from the basement. That’s when the golden retriever appears once again, leading Indy through the house. Indy follows him upstairs and crawls under a dresser. He finds the dead dog’s bandana and flashes back to see the basement door, and the monster coming up, approaching the dog.
Suddenly, a thumping noise starts echoing throughout the house. Something is coming up the stairs. Indy hides away and up comes Todd. From there we get back to the formula that made up the plot of this movie, more flashbacks/premonitions. We are following Indy running through the cemetery when a figure starts to approach. Then, we cut back to the house with more thumping. Indy wakes up in the house and runs downstairs to see Todd slamming his head against the basement door before he snaps out of it.
The next night, Indy finds the chair that Todd’s grandfather used giving him another premonition where he coughs up blood and yells for the dog to run while the monster is approaching. The next morning comes, and Todd can’t find Indy. After searching around, he finds him disheveled, hiding behind an open basement door. Todd goes to give him a bath but starts coughing up blood in the process. Todd’s not feeling well, and, after a quick hospital visit, it becomes clear that Todd’s sickness is getting worse.
Todd and Indy return to the house. However, this time Indy can sense something is different. The monster is out. Indy ends up hiding with Todd, before the monster grabs Indy. Indy bites down, but it ends up being his owner Todd’s hand. Todd kicks Indy out of the room before collapsing, but Indy runs out to try and get help.
The next night arrives, and Todd chains Indy outside to his doghouse. Tonight, however, the shadowy monster doesn’t just plan on hanging around the house. It plans to finish what it came to do.
GOOD BOY is well made, with an incredible performance by the dog. In fact, the dog seriously out-acts the humans, which means the dog is very well trained. However, the movie has one major problem. This movie is way too dark. It’s a staple of many modern horror movies, but it’s also a lazy one. Thus, it’s hard to see anything that’s happening in the movie, even the scares. In fact, many times, ominous music will play, signifying a scare, but the viewer can’t really see the scary part.
The biggest problem with GOOD BOY, however, is that it has a strong pagan, occult worldview where there’s no total victory against the dark, evil figure menacing Todd and Indy the dog. Also, the dog sees ghosts of the grandfather and the grandfather’s dog. He also catches glimpses of other scary supernatural figures. These forces, including the monster menacing Todd, sometimes seem to represent Death.
All of these dark elements are counterbalanced, however, by the positive character of Indy the dog. The loyal canine sticks with his owner, Todd, and insists on being by his side through thick and thin, good health and bad health. In a way, this part of GOOD BOY beautifully showcases how we’re supposed to love one another. As such, it imparts a solid Christian, moral lesson in the story and the ending, despite the movie’s negative worldview content.
GOOD BOY also has three “f” words in it and four strong profanities. So, taken altogether, the negative content in the movie makes GOOD BOY excessive and unacceptable.
