Good Boy (2023) – Review

In this original and extremely bold Norwegian horror movie, we meet Sigrid (Katrine Lovise Øpstad Fredrikse) right as she thinks she’s met the perfect match. On Tinder, of all places. She has a casual date with the charming and handsome Christian (Gard Løkke from the Norwegian Netflix movie Troll) as they go out for drinks.

They end up back at his place, where it becomes obvious that he is rich. Very rich.

However, there is one catch to this handsome, charming, and rich man. Christian lives with Frank. And Frank is very clearly a man who acts like a dog. Christian recognizes that it’s quite weird and is ready to explain.

After a while, Sigrid lets him explain (I won’t give away the details here) and she decides to try and be open-minded, so she continues the relationship. It’s a romantic whirlwind of a relationship and Sigrid’s roommate and friend tries to get her to take it slow.

Only too late does Sigrid begin to notice an insidious under-tone that indicates this “puppy play” isn’t what it seems.

When the story of Good Boy starts showing off its core plot-driver of having a man dressed as a dog, you may find it weird. Most people would, I suppose. However, I can easily buy into the whole “to each their own”-idea and don’t want to judge anyone’s life choices.

Then again, I also kept thinking that this was a horror movie, so something was bound to evolve in a terrifying way. And then it does. I mean, damn does it ever.

Still, while Good Boy is very much a horror story, it feels eerily realistic. There’s no sci-fi or paranormal element to this story, which just makes it even scarier somehow. It really is a wild ride that may seem to slow down towards the ending, but that’s just to hit you with one final punch to the gut.