'Into the Dark: Good Boy' Review: A monstrous therapy dog and Judy Greer as his owner make for a horror treat
Spoiler alert
Over the years, as the pet industry boomed into a multi-million dollar business, so has on-screen satire on pet lovers and their intense obsession with their furry babies. Movies like 'Hachiko' and 'Marley and Me' are timeless classics now because of the touching portrayal of a dog's love for its human. And then came these horror-comedies that somehow always manage to spin that story of love, loyalty and affection into something terrifying, weaving a satirical story surrounding the pet lover mostly.
Be it Netflix's Norwegian anthology 'Bloodride', where pet owners of a quaint town sacrificed their cats to gain insane amounts of good fortune. Or be it a monster-puppy who will voluntarily take down humans — mauling and killing them in a bloody mess — all because they crossed his human — the June installment of 'Into the Dark' titled 'Good Boy' milks the same idea of a tiny animal exacting revenge for its human, with Judy Greer shining in a leading role that was tailored for her.
In honor of June's Pet Appreciation Week, the Hulu and Blumhouse Television anthology horror collab bring to us a film by Tyler MacIntyre, who does with the story from Aaron and Will Eisenberg, everything that made his own 'Tragedy Girls' and 'Patchwork' such critically acclaimed films. MacIntyre's direction is fresh and unmissable — the way he uses Hollywood's most innocent looking, puppy-eyed actor to play the slowly unraveling and smugly proud mama of the titular 'Good Boy' is beyond brilliant. As for the Eisenberg brothers, they try to revamp the comedy 'Bad Milo' and do tweaks that work exceptionally well for a plot that's a full-fledged roller coaster with meditation music playing in the background right from the start.
Greer's Maggie is an LA-based journalist whose nearing-40 life is riddled with anxiety and absolutely no love life on the horizon. Noting her ever-spiraling stress, her boss and editor Don (Steve Guttenberg) suggests she take to either medical marijuana or get an emotional support animal. Soon we are introduced to Chico the Dog as Reuben — a shelter dog that Maggie adopts. Reuben has this innate ability to calm Maggie as she was on hydroponic drugs, but there's a catch: Reuben also kills people, brutally and violently when they cross Maggie.
The humor floats in, in situations where Maggie comes home to a horror show in her bathtub and frustratingly cries out to Reuben "How did you do that, you're just 10 pounds!" And all Reuben does is stare — lovingly, obsessively, probably a little bit too menacingly for a tiny little dog who is supporting his master emotionally. Maggie has an immediate obsession with Reuben and his daily routine, to the point where she gushes about how she's seeing only one man — her dog.
Satirical takes on pet owners aside, the feature-length installment also uses plenty of shadow play to show Reuben's transformation into the werewolf type monster that's been killing people who don't agree with Maggie. And even though no one would complain about having a pet as loyal as that, his transformation scenes aren't explored much, leaving more to be desired. Or perhaps it is just seeing the adorable Chiko bring life to a supposedly monstrous character, in a way that blood-stained white fur on the little dog only looks like a hilarious juxtaposition, like that puppy going hard at a jar of jam meme.
But where Reuben's demonic aura is restrained from being properly unleashed, Greer's comedic timing is too iconic for this installment to flop. Gone are the days of her being the heroine-adjacent helping her arc, or the crazy ex that the protagonist doesn't want to associate with anymore. As Maggie, she is fumbling, yet hilarious. The way she pretends to scold Reuben in the presence of the police is wonderfully paralleled by her growing affinity for the dog with each kill. At its core, 'Good Boy' might seem like a story about a horrifying pet encounter, but MacIntyre's feature, even though not as bloody, gory, and ruthless as his previous releases, works really well for all the themes it signifies: a pet lover's obsession and a gradual rise to value animals and their love above all human relationships.
'Into the Dark: Good Boy' is available for streaming on Hulu now.