Film

Good Boy

Name: Good Boy
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Horror
Released: 2026
Cast: Anson Boon, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Kit Rakusen, Monika Frajczyk

Other titles called Good Boy: the 2003 film.

Horror
Very dark

A volatile teenager wakes imprisoned in a Yorkshire basement by a strange family, only to discover the nightmare isn't what he expected. Part kidnapping thriller, part psychological unraveling, Good Boy trades jump scares for creeping dread and moral vertigo. It's for people who like their horror cerebral and unsettling, where the real terror lives in what characters do to each other.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like captivity stories that stay in one cramped space and let dread build from unsettling domestic oddness rather than cheap shocks.

Skip it if you need a clear, fast-moving plot or a protagonist you can easily root for, since Tommy is a volatile, unpleasant lead who spends much of the story feeling trapped.

What it asks of you: Just under two hours, most of it in close, airless rooms, where the dread tightens slowly and gives you little relief between the unsettling beats.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Funny Games2008

A home invasion that becomes a philosophical interrogation of violence itself. Like Good Boy, it strips away comfort and forces you to reckon with what you're watching and why. Brilliantly nasty.

But Deliberately punishing and designed to make you uncomfortable. It breaks the fourth wall and doesn't let you enjoy the spectacle. Exhausting in the best and worst ways.

Oldboy2003

A prisoner seeking revenge uncovers a truth that rewrites everything. The same architecture as Good Boy—captivity, revelation, moral collapse—but wound even tighter. Visually extraordinary and brutally inventive.

But Graphically violent and the emotional tone is relentless. The twist demands a second viewing and some viewers find the ending too punishing to revisit.

The Platform2019

Prisoners in a vertical tower discover the system that confines them is far more sinister than the physical walls. Like Good Boy, it uses confinement to examine cruelty and complicity. Darkly clever.

But It's more concept than character, and the metaphor overshadows some performances. The ending divides viewers on whether it earns its philosophical reach.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Good Boy

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Satantango1994

Both films trap characters in enclosed spaces—literal or spiritual—and ask what happens when someone who seems to offer rescue may be the greatest threat of all. Both traffic in moral vertigo rather than jump scares.

A seven-and-a-half-hour Hungarian film about a community in decline with a mysterious stranger at its centre. A spiritual cousin to Good Boy—morally ambiguous, hypnotic, built on slow-burn dread and the question of whether salvation or damnation is being offered.

But Over seven hours, in Hungarian, shot in black and white with minimal plot. It requires active surrender and tests patience like few films dare. Not for anyone wanting conventional narrative momentum.

Hereditary2018

A family secret destroys everything. Ari Aster builds dread through atmosphere and character rather than scares, with Stephen Graham's presence lending gravitas and danger. Genuinely haunting.

But Slow, deliberately paced, and the horror emerges from grief and trauma rather than plot mechanics. Takes patience and pays off only if you surrender to the mood.

The Killing2011

A Danish detective drama where the mystery is just the frame for exploring how violence ripples through families and communities. Stephen Graham's intensity matches the show's commitment to moral ambiguity.

But Three seasons and 20 episodes per season. By the end some feel the answer doesn't match the investigation, and the pacing can feel glacial to those wanting momentum.

Room2015

A woman and child imprisoned in a shed navigate escape and its aftermath. Like Good Boy, it's about the psychic damage of captivity and how trauma reshapes what freedom means. Tender and shattering.

But Claustrophobic and emotionally heavy. The second half shifts focus and loses some viewers who wanted a different kind of resolution.

A Tale of Two Sisters2003

A Korean horror that uses a family home as a psychological maze. Gorgeous, unsettling, and it rewards paying attention to what's real versus imagined. The kind of film that grows darker after you finish.

But Slow and deliberately opaque. The plot isn't always clear on first viewing, and some find the ambiguity more frustrating than compelling.

Come True2020

A teenager volunteers for a sleep study and discovers something far darker. Surreal and hypnotic, it has Good Boy's commitment to dread over explanation and a willingness to leave you unsettled.

But Experimental and sometimes incoherent. The climax is abstract and won't satisfy anyone looking for clarity or conventional resolution.

Under the Skin2014

Scarlett Johansson as something inhuman observing humanity from outside. It's glacial and oblique, but the mood is strangling. Proof that horror doesn't need plot if the atmosphere is strong enough.

But Virtually no dialogue, glacial pacing, and the narrative is intentionally opaque. Many viewers find it frustrating rather than haunting.

Bait2021

Both explore how violence and darkness emerge from within communities that seem ordinary. Both ask what a person might become under the right—or wrong—circumstances.

British kitchen-sink realism collides with genre horror: a man returns to a working-class village and bodies start washing ashore. It's how Good Boy might feel if made as gritty social drama—class and desperation matter as much as the nightmare.

But Deliberately unglamorous and focused on bleak working-class texture. The horror is secondary to character and setting. Some find it more depressing than thrilling.