October 03, 2025

‘Good Boy’: Ben Leonberg & Kari Fischer On Crafting A Haunted-House Thriller From A Dog’s POV, Indy’s “Performance,” & Festival Reactions [The Discourse

23 minutes

They say dogs can sense death, staring at something just beyond our perception. In “Good Boy,” that instinct becomes the engine for an entire film. Directed by Ben Leonberg and produced by Kari Fischer, the story unfolds entirely from the perspective of a golden retriever named Indy, who seems to be the only one aware that a house carries a sinister presence. What begins as a simple “what if” idea blossoms into a chilling, 73-minute haunted-house thriller told through a dog’s eyes.

The concept is both ingenious and risky. Leonberg and Fischer spent years refining it, drawing inspiration from Jack London’s animal adventures and the horror tradition of films like “Poltergeist.” Without dialogue to rely on, the filmmakers built the narrative through images, sound, and Indy’s natural behavior, creating a cinematic language where panting, footsteps, and a thousand-yard stare become the keys to suspense. The result is eerie, playful, and surprisingly emotional, inviting viewers to see a ghost story through the gaze of man’s best friend.

For Leonberg, the idea had been percolating for over a decade. “I came up with the idea by watching ‘Poltergeist’ and thinking, man, somebody should tell a story entirely from the golden retriever’s perspective,” he explained. “I worked with a co-writer for years, really trying to crack the story…because we’re not using dialogue to tell the story. So how do you have all the narrative plot points that still feel like a story with a beginning, a middle and end and rising tension and conflict?”

READ MORE: ‘Play Dirty’: Shane Black On Reinventing Parker, Mark Wahlberg Stepping In For Robert Downey Jr. & Much More [The Discourse Podcast]

...more