Shakespeare once wrote “What’s in a name?”, but in the world of film, the film’s title can prove to be very important.

This film was originally named The Good Boy, but it just so happens to be quite popular, including a Korean TV drama called Good Boy, and an independent horror called Good Boy, both let of the leash last year.

So as not to add to the confusion, this film wisely changed its title, but still being K9 adjacent in its thinking.

Going for an interview at a remote country home is Rina (Monika Frajczyk). She’s applying for a job as a cleaner for couple Chris (Stephen Graham) and Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough) and their young son Jonathan (Kit Rakusen).

She gets spooked on her first day, when Chris not only takes her phone off her and puts it a safe, but also checks her person with a metal detector. Chris tries to do her best to put her at ease however, but Rina soon discovers, when she goes down to the basement, that everything isn’t as it seems.

There, sitting on a mattress and chained to the wall is Tommy (Anson Boon). He has had a chequered history as a youth, with delinquent behaviour, and is not at all happy to be there.

Chris and Kathryn have taking it upon themselves to re-habilitate the young man, using quite extreme measures, but they certainly have the hands full with his antisocial behaviour.

This is Polish director Jan Komasa’s first English language film, and it has an unconventional poetry to it.

Although the story is one of having a wayward youth in their basement has a horror tone to it, it’s underpinned with whiffs of being a twisted Pygmalion. The analogy, as both its titles alluded to, is training a human like a dog, which is visually portrayed with Tommy wearing a collar throughout, and being on a chain.

But instead of ramping up the horror scenario, Komasa is more keen in exploring this unusual family dynamic, so much so that it becomes strangely moving.

Of course Graham is excellent, playing a character who some may think has good intentions, but whose methods are nothing short of brutal.

Riseborough is equally as excellent, whose Kathryn is initially catatonic, playing an almost Dickensian character, floating from one room to the next without saying a word. But as the film continues, Tommy’s arrival brings her more out of her shell, revealing that her true colours match those of her hubby’s.

And then there’s Boon, who picks up from where he left off in the crime series MobLand, playing a completely despicable character. He is captivating in this, with his almost Eliza Doolittle transformation, who captures Tommy’s arc with absorbing accuracy.

The character of Rina is nothing more than a plot device, and there could have been another way, more elegant, without using her, but her role gets the job done.

Komasa’s film is simply sublime, dark and unnerving at times, with an intriguing energy about it, that hints at being a run of the mill horror, before becoming something far more cerebral.

It also ended with a fitting title, for a film that, extending the dog analogy further, is a real treat.