Good Boy‘s streaming release date has now been revealed following the Shudder film’s impressive performance. Directed by Ben Leonberg, the horror movie set a record last month when it became the streamer’s second-highest-grossing movie ever at the box office.
After this commercial success, Shudder now confirms that Good Boy will start streaming on the service starting Friday, November 21. This comes seven weeks after the film’s theatrical release on October 3.
Good Boy takes a unique approach to the horror genre and became a bit of a viral sensation because of it. The film unfolds essentially from the point of view of a loyal dog as he and his owner move into a new house, which ends up being infested with dark supernatural forces. From the first trailer, the film generated buzz on social media because viewers were worried that the dog would die.
The success of Good Boy‘s marketing helped to push the movie to $8.5 million worldwide at the box office. This means it’s now behind only Late Night with the Devil (2023) in terms of Shudder movie box office performance. The David Dastmalchian-starring horror movie enjoys a significant lead at $15.4 million worldwide.
Good Boy wasn’t just a commercial success, though, it was also well-received by audiences and critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie enjoys a 90% critics’ score, with the Popcornmeter not far behind at 82%. Major points of praise include the film’s surprisingly emotional elements and subversion of certain horror tropes.
In his Good Boy review for ScreenRant, Graeme Guttmann awards the film a score of six out of 10, highlighting the film’s atmosphere and lovable dog protagonist as major strengths. What holds the film back, however, he argues, is an over-reliance on jump scares and an underwritten human lead. Guttmann writes:
Even with its limits, Good Boy is a fine film, one that manages to feel both experimental and familiar in a way that’s comforting. It may sound strange to call a horror movie calming in that way, but even with its ghoulish twists and turns, there is real heart at the center of this film that makes it a worthwhile watch when it makes its way to screens.
Leonberg’s movie arrives amidst a strong year for Shudder’s movie offerings. In 2025, the horror-focused streaming service released titles like The Rule of Jenny Pen, The Ugly Stepsister, V/H/S/Halloween, and Hell House LLC: Lineage, among other titles. In December, Shudder is set to release Influencers, a sequel to 2022’s Influencer.
With Good Boy now less than two weeks away from debuting on streaming, it’s set to reach a much wider range of viewers. It remains to be seen how Shudder subscribers will respond to the unique horror movie, but the film already seems poised to be a popular offering given its positive theatrical reception.
- Release Date
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October 3, 2025
- Runtime
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73 minutes
- Director
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Ben Leonberg
- Writers
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Alex Cannon, Ben Leonberg
