Stephen Graham's 'excellent' thriller lands on Prime Video
Stephen Graham's dark psychological thriller The Good Boy is now streaming on Prime Video, giving weekend viewers a tense, critically praised watch. Also known as Heel in the US, the Jan Komasa film follows a violent teen abducted by a suburban family bent on "reforming" him.
Key Takeaways
- The Good Boy, starring Stephen Graham, has landed on Prime Video after a 2025 cinema release.
- The film holds an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes and drew praise for Graham's "superbly creepy" turn.
- Graham plays Chris, who abducts 19-year-old Tommy (Anson Boon) with wife Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough).
- Set in Yorkshire and partly shot in Leeds, it is Polish director Jan Komasa's first English-language feature.
- Some fans found it so intense they paused mid-viewing, yet many still called it rewarding.
What is Stephen Graham's The Good Boy about?
According to synopses reported by the Liverpool Echo and The Yorkshireman, the story centres on Tommy, a 19-year-old hooligan steeped in drugs, parties and violence. After a night out with reckless mates, he is separated from the group and abducted.
He wakes chained in the basement of an isolated suburban home belonging to Chris, his wife Kathryn and their young son Jonathan. The family sets out to reform Tommy's unruly behaviour through relentless mind games, forcing him to comply or try to escape.
Liverpool-born Stephen Graham, known for Peaky Blinders, Adolescence, Boiling Point, Line of Duty and This Is England, plays the unassuming patriarch Chris. Andrea Riseborough co-stars as Kathryn, with Anson Boon as Tommy.
Why are critics and fans calling it so intense?
Despite a limited cinema run, The Good Boy scored 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers branded it a "sick, twisted nightmare," "wickedly strange and sick," and compared its meeting of monsters to A Clockwork Orange. Graham's performance has been dubbed "superbly creepy," with one critic saying he again excels in a role about "adolescence of a different kind."
Yahoo Entertainment UK framed the Prime Video arrival as Stephen Graham's "excellent" dark thriller for the weekend. Fans echoed the tension: one called it "difficult to watch but rewarding," while another admitted pausing during an escape sequence because it was "so intense."
Others praised its black comedy edge, calling it thoroughly disturbing yet highly enjoyable and "a disturbingly relevant masterpiece." Browse more weekend streaming picks in our Streaming & TV Alerts hub.
Where was The Good Boy filmed, and how can you watch it?
Directed by Jan Komasa — whose Corpus Christi earned an Oscar nomination for Best International Film — The Good Boy is his first English-language production. The Yorkshireman reports it is set in Yorkshire, with Leeds city centre locations around Lower Briggate and the Irish Centre; interiors were shot in Warsaw.
Anson Boon filmed the opening high-street sequence on a Friday night during Freshers week and described the real nightlife chaos as "really mental." The film premiered in cinemas in 2025 and may have slipped under many radars before its streaming arrival.
The Good Boy is available on Prime Video now — a strong pick if you want Stephen Graham at his most unsettling this weekend.