How much the viewer cares about what happens to a film's protagonist is typically indicative of its quality. Both love and hate are preferable to indifference: Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley in Alienand Daniel Kaluuya's Chris Washington in Get Outare resilient, humane, brave heroes worth rooting for, while Justin Long's AJ in Barbarian is the human embodiment of toxic masculinity, male privilege and selfishness. These characters evoke nuanced emotional responses in audiences, and the unconventional protagonist of writer, director and cinematographer Ben Leonberg's 2025 supernatural horror film Good Boyaccomplishes this in the most familiar of ways — for those who have carpets and couches coated in loose fur, that is.

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