Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022)

Director(s): John Lee Hancock

Writer(s): John Lee Hancock, Stephen King

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell, Joe Tippett

Occasionally, it’s nice to have a chilling tale that also acts as a vehicle to teach a lesson about life, death and how it all fits together like a carefully crafted puzzle, no matter how chaotic it seems out there, it is cyclical and serves some sort of purpose. This offering from Netflix is short and sweet and gets to the point rather quickly; it’s not a complicated storyline at all and to be frank, the trailer basically gives away most of the plot points but what’s great about Mr. Harrigan’s phone is it somehow gets you thinking hours, maybe even days after the movie since it does deliver some chilling scenes and a message about what the afterlife can possibly mean in its interpretation, which to me, is an indication of a great story telling. 

As stated, the plot is simple; following the recent death of his mother, a young student named Craig befriends elderly, successful businessman, Mr. Harrigan. After a tense start, they eventually become great friends and learn some valuable lessons from each other, one of which is Craig introducing Mr. Harrigan to the wonderful world of modern technology after buying him an iPhone for Christmas after winning some money from a winning lottery ticket that Mr. Harrigan himself had given him previously (he’s a sweet kiddo you see). Keeping true with the stereotype of elderly folks, Harrigan resists the allure of the iPhone at first but then realizes its immense power to connect to the world and its endless information and eventually grows to love the damn thing (as we all do) and eventually becomes one of us, addicted and using the device like one of his appendages. 

As time passes on, so does Mr. Harrigan and Craig slips Mr. Harrigan his prized iPhone inside his coffin during the funeral as his way of saying goodbye. As it turns out, Harrigan, the old softie ends up leaving Craig with a hefty sum of money to pursue his dreams to become a writer but of course, Craig still misses his friend and as a gesture, he calls Harrigan’s phone to leave a message to say thank you. The next morning however…a text message…WAS SENT BACK. Now, this was a simple, yet chilling thought and the basis for the entire movie. You see this in the trailer, and you get the point of the flick right away and I imagine this was pretty much the thought that probably went through Stephen King’s head when coming up with this story, like, “Man, wouldn’t it be creepy if you got a text from someone who passed away?” HELL YEAH that would be creepy as all hell Stephen King! 

The story just gets creepier from this point where multiple text messages start correlating to more deadly consequences that go beyond coincidence and that’s where the chilling notion of our devices, these things that we carry with us every day may be a gateway to afterlife but the way it’s done in this movie is so subtle. The jump scares are minimal to none, everything is done in a methodical, thoughtful way in order for you to really absorb the fact that this text can only logically come from one source. This isn’t a sort of Scooby-Doo mystery where you’re trying to think of who can be messing with Craig but rather, what sort of existential lesson is the spirit world trying to teach Craig about reaching out to the damn afterlife via iPhone?!? What do all the cryptic text mean from Harrigan (assuming they have any sort of deep meaning)?!? 

Even the way the deaths are depicted in the movie are subtle ties to Harrigan to the point that they can only have been tied to Harrigan if you knew him personally, which again cranks the chilling factor to 11. This movie does an excellent job of building mental tension without having to rely on a jump scare as a payoff. Instead, they give the audience just more mental images or ideas that yes, Harrigan is most likely somehow contacting Craig from the dead because of X, Y, and Z because of these subtle reasons, don’t you see? Sometimes the calm voice of reason is much creepier than the loud voice that’s trying to convince you of terror. 

If you happen to read this entry on your smart phone…in the evening…alone…in the dark…MAY A LONELY SOUL FROM THE AFTERLIFE REACH OUT TO YOU RIGHT NOW VIA TEXT bwuahahahahahahahahhahahahahaha. 

Thanks for reading. 

Life is FAR more interesting when we take interest in things that scare us.