Mr. Harrigan's Phone

Mr. Harrigan's Phone

Craig, a young boy living in a small town befriends an older, reclusive billionaire, Mr. Harrigan. The two form a bond over books and an iPhone, but when the man passes away the boy discovers that not everything dead is gone.

  • Released: 2022-10-05
  • Runtime: 105 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, Horror, Thrillers
  • Stars: Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Cyrus Arnold, Thomas Francis Murphy, Joe Tippett, Caitlin Shorey, Iván Amaro Bullón, Conor William Wright, Alexa Shae Niziak, Bennett Saltzman, Joseph Paul Kennedy, Thalia Torio, Colin O'Brien, Leo Kennedy, Peggy J. Scott, Daniel Reece, Frank Ridley, Wayne Pyle
  • Director: John Lee Hancock
 Comments
  • Mysterygeneration - 6 January 2024
    A Reminiscent Story with Technological Hints That Isn't Fully Connected
    A film based on a Stephen King tale, Mr. Harrigan's Phone, combines a haunting sense of mystery with nostalgia. The filming is expertly done, encapsulating the spirit of small-town living and the spooky atmosphere surrounding the enigmatic phone. The lead actors give excellent performances, particularly in capturing the narrative's emotional heart. But the pacing is a little off, with certain tense moments not quite reaching their full potential. The movie does a good job of examining issues of connection and how technology affects our lives, but it leaves several things unexplained, leaving viewers intrigued but desiring a little more in-depth study of the supernatural aspects.
  • engfelipetulio - 2 August 2023
    It's not what you expect I'm sure
    I expected a way more terror. The central theme is interesting, but the whole marketing about this being a terror film it's a fake. When the movie finished I was disappointed.

    The supernatural aspects in the movie is just superficial and only happens on the second act. So, if you are going to see the movie hopping to see some jump scares, well, I'm sorry. You will not get this.

    As a positive point about the trama, is the fact that King (author) uses the smartphone as a way to communicate with the dead. Definitely, it's different from the classics. And other thing that a liked was the insight (filosofical discuss) that the Mr. Harrigan speeched about the "future" of humankind with smartphones (sounded like a criticism and I agree with him).
  • thia1234 - 18 April 2023
    Loved it!
    I LOVED this movie. If you are so used to modern pacing that you can't watch a movie slow burn then don't bother watching this one. The acting was superb all the way through to the smallest supporting roles. So well done by whoever did the casting. I LOVED the sets and setting and cinematography. I LOVED the music and the mood. The story was incredibly sweet and creepy simultaneously which is very very rare. The ending was perfect. If you need a rip roaring horror roller coaster this is not that. But I'll dream I'm sure about quietly padding around Mr. Harrigan's lovely dying house long after the dust has settled on all of his wonderfully collected old things. And then a phone will ring... Wonderful movie!
  • billcr12 - 1 January 2023
    Stephen King Story
    Stephen King has a total of 78 movie and TV adaptations to his credit and this one is one of the good ones.

    Donald Sutherland previously starred in the vastly underrated Apt Pupil years ago and he is the lead here as a reclusive billionaire who hires a schoolboy to read to him, as his eyesight is failing.

    The boy reads from many classics, including my personal favorite, Crime and Punishment. An Oscar Wilde quote is used at the beginning. Mr. King has excellent literary taste.

    I would put the film in the same category as Stand by Me, another King adaptation. The common threads of adolescence are present in both.

    King's deep insights into humanity are always within his novels and short stories.

    Mr. Harrigan's Phone is another fine Netflix production.
  • tabascopunkoriginal - 13 December 2022
    Where's the salt and pepper?
    While not a bad movie overall, it felt like watching a script instead of a fleshed-out film.

    A lot of wasted potential - many opportunities to expand on the core of the "horror" aspect of the movie, along with adding a few more kills to drive home the significance of the title itself.

    The direction was good, cinematography was good, etc.. it was the original writing that caused this movie to suffer. King isn't the king he once was, unfortunately. Despite the difficulty known when it comes to putting a Stephen King work into cinema, the production of the movie was spot-on. Again, it was the core of the story itself that caused this movie to leave me wondering what the bland taste in my mouth was.
  • vinayningoo-03478 - 15 November 2022
    WELL NARRATED. MESSAGE...... READ IN BETWEEN THE LINES
    The Movie is so well written and very well executed. It might have been labelled as a horror. But what it tries to bring out is the horror the this current tech world is creating . The Movie is about relationship of two People which grew with time and was about to blossom but could not.

    The pace of the Movie is good , what Jaeden Martell (Craig) Shared with Donald Sutherlnd (Mr. Harrigan) and his teacherKirby Howell Baptiste (Ms. Hart) is something which was different ,matured and pure. The message of the movie is like read in between the lines.

    The Movie labelled as horror gives the message in the movie itself what horror the technology can do in coming days. I enjoyed its worth watching.
  • zkonedog - 5 November 2022
    Lacking The Emotion Of The Original Story, But At Least An Okay Adaptation
    I consider "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" to be perhaps the most masterful short story ever penned by Stephen King. While this adaptation of King's work is far from the best (Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile), it is certainly light years ahead of the worst (2022 Firestarter, Cell).

    For a very basic overview, this film tells the story of Craig (Jaeden Martell), a young man who strikes up an unlikely friendship with the aged Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland). As Craig reads to Mr. Harrigan because of the older man's declining eyesight, he learns some life lessons and some mentorship occurs. Along the way, Craig introduces him to the iPhone, of which Mr. Harrigan is fascinated with (and remarkably prescient about). When Mr. Harrigan eventually passes, the phone is buried with him. While seemingly a sentimental gesture on Craig's part, it becomes anything but when the adolescent starts receiving messages from the below-ground party.

    Though I will admit that any adaptation of this material was likely to disappoint my sky-high expectations based on the written-word version, I do at least somewhat objectively think that there is a great deal of missing emotion from director/writer John Lee Hancock. The Craig/Harrigan relationship is fine, but everything else--from Craig's school experiences, relationship to a special teacher, father/son dynamic, and the deceased mother--seems rather flat. Likely because of this, the film often seems drawn-out or overly long even at a relatively modest 100-minute runtime.

    That being said, there is enough here to enjoy for it to be a worthwhile experience overall. Sutherland is great and the very basics of King's tale are all covered. Again, the problems with "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" have nothing to do with the coverage of story points and everything to do with how emotional that coverage turns out to be.

    Like I said, the story this is based on is so good as to be close to impossible to capture all the nuances of. "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" gets the nitty-gritty, plot-by-plot details right, but struggles to manufacture the raw emotion from the source.