Heel - Review

Destroy What Destroys You.

Review written by Jack Aling

Heel is directed by Jan Komasa and written by Bartek Bartosik and Naqqash Khalid.

Tommy, a volatile 19-year-old, gets separated from his friends on a drunken bender and is abducted by a shadowy figure. He wakes imprisoned in a remote Yorkshire house inhabited by a very strange family. Also released as The Good Boy.

Tommy is an asshole.

There's no two ways about it. He's a nuisance, a public disturbance and outspoken in the worst ways possible. Does that mean he deserves to be kidnapped by Stephen Graham and chained in a basement until he reflects on the errors of his antisocial ways? Probably not, but here we are.

With a premise as dark as this, my biggest surprise is how heartfelt The Good Boy

is. After a sinister first act, the layers are peeled back on a mysterious family dynamic, taking the film in unexpected directions.

Perhaps the rich performances of the family offer a more welcoming and caring alternative to a life full of aggression and boasting, leading Tommy to decide which prison he wants to live in. Though maybe it's just Stockholm syndrome.

The Good Boy may be erratic and unpredictable, but it breaks away from the mould with something subtly and darkly touching.

Our verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Heel arrives in UK cinemas 20 March 2026.

Read more of Jack's reviews at: letterboxd.com/TheJackAling