Mr. Harrigan's Phone

For the novella on which the film was based, see Mr. Harrigan's Phone (novella).

Mr. Harrigan's Phone
File:Mr harrigans phone (film).jpg Promotional release poster
Directed by	John Lee Hancock
Produced by	Ryan Murphy Jason Blum Carla Hacken
Written by	John Lee Hancock
Based on	Mr. Harrigan's Phone by Stephen King
Starring	Donald Sutherland Jaeden Martell Joe Tippett Kirby Howell-Baptiste
Music by	Javier Navarrete
Cinematography	John Schwartzman
Edited by	Robert Frazen
Production company	Blumhouse Television Ryan Murphy Productions
Distributed by	Netflix
Release dates	October 5, 2022 (2022-10-05)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Mr. Harrigan's Phone is a 2022 American teen horror drama film written and directed by John Lee Hancock. It is based on the novella of the same name by Stephen King from the collection If It Bleeds. The film stars Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell, Joe Tippett and Kirby Howell-Baptiste.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone was released on October 5, 2022, by Netflix. The film received mixed reviews.

Plot

Young Craig becomes acquainted with retired businessman John Harrigan following the death of his mother, with instructions to simply read to him three times a week. Five years later, a teenage Craig and elderly Harrigan have become friends. During this time, Craig starts high school and becomes close to Ms. Hart, a teacher who comes to his aid when Kenny Yankovich, a school bully, attempts to intimidate him. After winning $3,000 from a lottery ticket that Harrigan gave him and receiving his first iPhone for Christmas, Craig buys Harrigan one too. Despite initial resistance to new technology, Harrigan greatly enjoys the phone.

Harrigan dies unexpectedly, leaving Craig heartbroken at the loss of his old friend. At the funeral, Craig sneaks Harrigan's phone into the coffin. He is then informed by Harrigan's associate that he was left a bequest in Harrigan's will. Craig will receive $800,000 in a trust fund, intended to support his future studies and pursuit of a writing career, which he had spoken to Harrigan about. Craig calls Harrigan's phone as a gesture of thanks. The next morning, Craig discovers that Harrigan sent him an odd text message, though his father chalks it up to being a bug within the iPhone itself.

Life goes on for Craig, who goes to a dance with his crush, only to be attacked by Kenny, who accuses Craig of getting him expelled from school. Later that night, Craig calls Harrigan's phone in a fit of frustration and sadness; he tells him he is "afraid that this won't end, and I wish that you were here just to give me some advice." Kenny is then found dead the next day, having apparently fallen from his bedroom window while attempting to sneak out. Scared by what happened, Craig goes to an Apple store, upgrades his phone to a newer model, and puts away his old one.

Craig eventually graduates from high school and departs for college in Boston, preparing to study journalism. While there, his father calls him to tell him Ms. Hart was killed in a car accident involving a drunk driver, leaving her fiancé hospitalized. The driver, Dean Whitmore, isn't charged for the accident and is instead sent to rehab. Infuriated by the outcome, Craig returns to his room and uses his old phone to call Harrigan, explicitly wishing death on Whitmore. After some time, Craig learns Whitmore was found dead in his shower. He drives to the rehab center and bribes a worker there to get more details about the suicide. He is told that Whitmore swallowed shampoo and a piece of broken soap bar. Craig is disturbed to learn that the soap is the same brand used by Ms. Hart, and Whitmore's suicide note is actually a lyric from the song "Stand by Your Man" by Tammy Wynette; Harrigan's ringtone.

Craig breaks down and returns to his hometown. From there, he sees Harrigan's "secret closet" (which Harrigan refused to let Craig enter) was actually a shrine to his deceased mother and visits Harrigan's gravestone, apologizing for his messages to Harrigan. He also theorizes that Harrigan's odd text messages to him are his way of begging Craig to let his spirit rest peacefully in Heaven and for Craig to move forward in the here and now. As he leaves Harrigan's grave, Craig visits his own mother's grave and collapses in tears, begging for forgiveness. Craig then rushes to the town quarry, first intending to commit suicide before deciding to throw his old phone into the river. As Craig walks away, he quietly narrates that when he himself passes on and is buried, he wants his pockets to be empty.

Cast

• Donald Sutherland as John Harrigan
• Jaeden Martell as Craig
  • Colin O'Brien as young Craig
• Joe Tippett as Craig's father
• Chelsea Kurtz as Craig's mother
• Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Ms. Hart
• Cyrus Arnold as Kenny Yankovich
• Thomas Francis Murphy as Pete Bostwick
• Peggy J. Scott as Edna Grogan
• Thalia Torio as Regina
• Alexa Shae Niziak as Margie

Production

In July 2020, Netflix acquired the film rights to "Mr. Harrigan's Phone", to be produced by Blumhouse Productions and Ryan Murphy and with John Lee Hancock writing and directing the film. In October 2021, Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Joe Tippett joined the cast. Principal photography started in Connecticut on October 20, 2021, and wrapped on December 22, 2021.

Release

The film was released on October 5, 2022, by Netflix.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 43% of 60 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Despite a pair of layered performances from its talented leads, Mr. Harrigan's Phone never quite connects with the source material's intriguing themes." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

In Common Sense Media, Brian Costello gave it a 4/5 rating saying that "viewers might expect a horror-thriller, but this is more of a coming-of-age story about the perils of revenge and a reflection on how we've changed since the arrival of the smartphone." In The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck said that "unfortunately, despite its intriguing premise, Mr. Harrigan's Phone lacks the necessary ingredient to make it truly memorable; it simply isn't very scary."

In the Arizona Republic, Bill Goodykoontz gave it a 4/5 rating saying that "as with the greatest King stories, the best parts here are not the horror elements (of which there are few). It's the time spent with the characters."

On CinemaBlend, Eric Eisenberg gave it a 2/5 rating saying that "it's a dull and lagging feature that tries to be both a coming-of-age drama and a supernatural horror film, and it ends up failing to make an emotional impact with either genre." Writing in The Guardian, Benjamin Lee also gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, calling it "...a competently made yet utterly inconsequential pre-Halloween time-waster." On IGN, Ryan Leston said, "what’s worse is that this potentially terrifying tale does almost nothing of any horror value throughout its overly long runtime. There are no jump scares, no dream sequences, no monsters, no gore, or anything remotely resembling a hefty-enough scare to warrant calling this a horror film."

External links

• Mr. Harrigan's Phone on Netflix
• Mr. Harrigan's Phone at IMDb