PIGEON SHRINE FRIGHTFEST 2023 – Film Review

This bizarre Norweigen horror thriller about the dangers of desperation dating is a disturbing trip into the eccentric realms of human pups.

Sigrid is a charming young woman with low standards when it comes to men. She herself its “If you have two legs and a pulse” you are in with a shot. When the gorgeous Christian gives her a super like on her dating app the two hook up for a socially awkward but sweet meet cute.

After an unadventurous first night fuck things turn sour in the morning when Christian introduces Sigrid to his pet pooch Frank. Seemingly oblivious to the utter weirdness unfolding Christian is quite at ease with the fact he has not forwarned his new conquest that Frank is actually a grown man in a canine onesie and mask.

Of course, Sigrid is freaked out and makes her excuses to scarper as the composed Christian begs for a chance to explain. Straight off the bat, it is hard to distinguish which red flag is the most blatant, the fact he co-habits with a bloke living as a dog, or the fact he chose not to prepare Sigrid for the shock. This is highly indicative of the suspension of belief Good Boy requires from the viewer in order to force its bonkers narrative.

Anyhow, Sigrid later finds out from her housemate Aurora, who does not permanently dress as a dog, that the handsome man she has snubbed is a multi-millionaire who could afford her the luxury of being a kept woman. Sigrid is unhappy with her psychology student status and boring sales job and decides to overlook the small matter of humanoid pet petting. To be fair, it is probably not a bad shout as her inability to spot a stone-cold weirdo when she sees one does not bode well for a fruitful career in matters of the mind.

She reunites with her potential meal ticket and so the way is crazy paved for a fast-track normalisation of dysfunctionality that will drag her down a rabbit hole of mutt-based madness faster than a juiced-up Jack Russell.

Director Viljar Bøe’s mischievous horror thriller is determined to weird you out. On the one hand, it displays a nonjudgemental attitude toward the fetish it eludes to, and on the other, it is happy to surround it with depraved absurdity. He plays down any sexual implications, on the surface at least, of Frank’s compulsion and Christian’s enabling compliance.

The puppy play element appears to be nothing more than a means to an end in exploring the playground of insanity and entitlement at the core of the film. Bøe takes the concept and contorts it to fit his own agenda of classist commentary and gender politics. He is not demonising nor ridiculing furries here, he is pissing on the privileged and taunting the tub-thumpers of toxic masculinity.

The slow-burn approach is tempered by the inherent oddness as the viewer remains eager to see exactly where this eccentric threesome will end up. When the head-fuck bomb is finally dropped it is launched with such casual left-field elegance it makes all the nonchalant build-up worthwhile. It’s a genuinely chilling scene that Miki Takahashi himself would be proud of and one that could go a long way to securing cult status for this looney love story.

The final third of Good Boy is satisfyingly surreal and erratic with graphic spanking, death metal noise torture, and bloody beatings. However, it’s the final frames that will knock the wind out of you. It’s one of those endings that gets more upsetting the more you contemplate it. There is also room in the conclusion for interpretation of the kind that could reveal more about our own capacity for degradation than the filmmakers.