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Mr Harrigan's Phone

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Mr Harrigan's Phone

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Summary

A cry for help elicits an unwelcome response in a horror thriller adapted for the screen by writer-director John Lee Hancock from a short story in Stephen King's collection If It Bleeds. Kind-hearted and sensitive boy Craig befriends billionaire Mr Harrigan, who is a recluse in their small town. The two loners are drawn together by a mutual love of books and Craig buys the old man a mobile phone so they can communicate. When Mr Harrigan passes away, Craig leaves the mobile phone on the body in the coffin before it is buried. In the midst of grief, Craig is badly beaten by the resident school bully and he calls Mr Harrigan's phone to hear a reassuring voice, leaving a message in which he wishes ill on his attacker. When Craig's tormentor subsequently takes his own life, the teenager begins to fear that he has opened a connection to the dead that can never be terminated.

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Review

A star rating of 2 out of 5.

James Mottram

John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) adapts a Stephen King short story with middling results. When Maine teenager Craig (Jaeden Martell) gets a job reading to the eponymous ageing billionaire (Donald Sutherland), he ends up gifting Mr Harrigan an iPhone. When the old man dies, Craig slips his phone into his coffin, and starts receiving text messages from his dead friend, who also seems capable of harming people from beyond the grave. The first half of the film intrigues, but the story soon meanders, eventually wasting its neat set-up. There's minimal sense of danger, while King's anti-tech rally cry feels outdated (being "wedded" to our phones in the 21st Century is like a "bad marriage", concludes Craig, lamely). Among the producers is horror king Jason Blum (Get Out), but there's little evidence of his involvement here: while the film has a slick, preppy aesthetic, nothing in this phone-fearing fable will truly scare you.

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6.0/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameMr HarriganDonald SutherlandCraigJaeden MartellCraig's DadJoe TippettMs HartKirby Howell-BaptisteKenny YankovichCyrus Arnold

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Crew

rolenameDirectorJohn Lee Hancock

Details

Released on

2022-10-05

Languages

English

Formats

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