Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)
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A grieving teenager discovers a supernatural connection to his late friend through a smartphone buried in a coffin.
The story
In 2003, young Craig Poole becomes acquainted with retired businessman John Harrigan following the death of his mother, who instructs him to read to Harrigan. Five years later, the two have become close friends. After winning a lottery, Harrigan receives his first iPhone, and Craig buys one for him as well. Following Harrigan's death, Craig sneaks the man's phone into his coffin. To his shock, Craig begins receiving odd text messages from the deceased man's phone, leading him to question the nature of their connection as he navigates high school and personal loss.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 2003, young Craig Poole becomes acquainted with retired businessman John Harrigan following the death of his mother, Joanna, who asks Craig to read to him. Five years later, they are close friends. After winning a lottery, Harrigan gets an iPhone, and Craig buys him one too. After Harrigan dies, Craig sneaks the phone into the coffin and later learns he inherited $800,000 in a trust fund. He begins receiving odd texts from Harrigan's phone. After a school bully, Kenny Yankovich, is found dead following an altercation with Craig, Craig upgrades his phone and puts the old one away. Craig later moves to Boston for college, where he learns his friend Ms. Hart was killed in a car accident. Infuriated by the verdict for the driver, Dean Whitmore, Craig uses his old phone to call Harrigan and wish death on Whitmore. Whitmore is subsequently found dead in his shower. Craig returns home, discovers Harrigan's 'secret closet' was a shrine to his mother, and realizes Harrigan's texts were a plea for peace. Craig visits both graves to apologize and eventually throws his old phone into a quarry, narrating that he wants his pockets to be empty when he dies.
- First release year
- 2022
- Runtime (minutes)
- 106
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Lee Hancock
- Writers
- John Lee Hancock · writer
- Cast and characters
- Donald Sutherland · John Harrigan; Jaeden Martell · Craig Poole; Joe Tippett · Mr Poole, Craig's father; Kirby Howell-Baptiste · Ms. Hart; Colin O'Brien · young Craig; Chelsea Kurtz · Joanna Poole, Mr Poole's late wife and Craig's late mother; Cyrus Arnold · Kenny Yankovich; Thomas Francis Murphy · Pete Bostwick
- Genres
- supernatural; coming-of-age; horror
- Themes
- Grief; Revenge; Technology; Moving on
- Tone and mood
- Supernatural; Coming-of-age; Somber
- Premise and plot tags
- Supernatural; Coming-of-age; Horror; Drama; Mobile phones; Death
- Source material / true-story basis
- Novella by Stephen King from the collection If It Bleeds
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising the character work while others found it lacked sufficient scares for a horror film.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 55 · scale: 100 · review count: 15
- Production trivia
- The film is based on a novella by Stephen King.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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