Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is the kind of quiet, confident Stephen King adaptation that understands the best chills come from human connection first: a lonely kid, an old man, and the strange intimacy of a device that never really leaves your pocket. John Lee Hancock steeps the film in small-town melancholy and wintry calm, letting dread seep in around the edges rather than crashing through the door, and that patience pays off in an atmosphere that feels elegant, sad, and unsettling all at once. Donald Sutherland brings a prickly, magnetic gravitas to Harrigan, while Jaeden Martell makes Craig’s grief and growing up feel lived-in, not plotted. It’s not for viewers hunting constant jump scares, but if you like your horror as a thoughtful aftertaste—part mystery, part moral fable, part coming-of-age—this one lingers.

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is aiming for a quiet Stephen King-style moral fable about grief, power, and what happens when a kid’s loneliness gets tethered to something he can’t control. The problem is it plays more like a subdued coming-of-age drama with a spooky concept than an actual horror film, with long stretches where the tension never really escalates and the “mystery” feels intentionally thin. Donald Sutherland brings gravitas and Jaeden Martell sells the sadness, but if you’re expecting sharp scares, big twists, or a story that really sinks its teeth in, this can feel oddly flat and forgettable. It’s best for viewers who like slow, reflective supernatural tales and don’t mind that the creepiest idea in the movie is mostly kept at arm’s length.