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With just a few weeks to go for Halloween, Netflix has come out with Mr. Harrigan's Phone, a surprisingly dull adaptation of the horror-master Stephen King's 88-page short story of the same name. Spearheaded by John Lee Hancock, who is also the writer and director, the film has failed in almost every way a horror film can fail without any real conviction, scare, or definition going into a story about a simple metaphor.
With a runtime of nearly two hours, the thin plotline is exposed more than once, and the sloppy character developments also don't help out in the film. Based on the friendship between a teenager, Craig (Jaeden Martell), and aging millionaire Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland), the original story is thinly written enough. The film makes it worse by trying to stretch a tiny story to the length of a feature film.
Mr. Harrigan's Phone premiered on October 5, 2022. Read on for a detailed review of the new Stephen King adaptation.
Mr. Harrigan's Phone review: How to fail at horror?
It is absolutely not new to see filmmakers trying to milk out a Stephen Hawking novel for some profit, with IT successfully amassing a chunk of box office claims across the world. However, after going through the extensive list of works of an author with a dazzling career with over half a century of books, there are bound to be some that do not stand up to the best ones.
Mr. Harrigan's Phone is one such short story. If someone was to make a film out of this rather hollow novel, they would need several additions. When the creators of Mr. Harrigan's Phone decided to dive into the process with the same storyline, it was already bound for failure.
Yes, the film has an important metaphor, but is it that single-dimensional? That is a question many would be asking after seeing the supposed horror film. The story, apart from the horror aspects, mainly focuses on this metaphor of technological intervention. However, in essence, it looks as simple as "books are good, phones are bad."
The underlying problem shrouding the otherwise well-shot and edited film was the lack of conviction. There is both confusion regarding the theme and the direction of the story. This left Mr. Harrigan's Phone somewhere between a teen drama and atmospheric horror, without succeeding in either. This also led to sloppy character development all around the story. No character felt compelling enough and no plotline seemed to have a concrete direction.
As for the horror aspect, there was hardly any place that could generate even the smallest amount of fear or anticipation. With the same old soundtrack, predictable plot devices, and an overall lack of scary elements, this is hardly a film to binge on Halloween night.
What's worse is that with proper research and a more methodical approach, this film could have been something. The technical aspects are not bad at all. However, simply drawing from Stephen King's short story was never going to be enough for a feature-length horror film that also made some subtle statements in the process.
All in all, there are clever metaphors and subtleties hidden in the plot, but with all its flaws, this Netflix film is not worth the time for any horror-seeking viewer.
Mr. Harrigan's Phone is now streaming on Netflix.
