Ryan Murphy and Blumhouse Productions have released the trailer for the film adaptation of Stephen King's Mr. Harrigan's Phone, putting it at the top of the list of Halloween films that horror fans can look forward to. The film will start streaming on Netflix at the beginning of October.
Ryan Murphy, Jason Blum, and Carla Hacken collaborated to produce Mr. Harrigan's Phone. John Lee Hancock, the artist behind The Little Things and The Blindside, adapted King's novel and directed King's novel for the screen. This group of creatives is truly the dream team to bring yet another classic Stephen King novel to life, and fans are desperate to know everything possible about the upcoming film.
What Is The Plot?
In the novel Mr. Harrigan's Phone, a 25-year-old Craig narrates a tale from his teen years. As a young boy, he works for his elderly billionaire neighbor, Mr. John Harrigan. He befriends the older man and spends each afternoon with him, even gifting him a cell phone. When Mr. Harrigan passes, Craig is shaken to find that he can still communicate with him on the phone.
The film seems to follow the same plot. It explores the twists and turns that come with communication with a dead man who held such dark secrets while alive. The original novella is a little over 80 pages, so it underwent a lot of creative exploration by Hancock to write a full feature script. Luckily, Stephen King felt the screenplay was true to his story and gave the green light to start production.
Who Is In The Cast?
The cast of Mr. Harrigan's Phone is sure to 'wow' audiences. Jaeden Martell will star as Craig, bringing yet another Stephen King character to life. Fans of the horror author will recognize Martell as Bill Denbrough from It, one of the scariest movies based on books.
Donald Sutherland plays Mr. Harrigan. Audiences will recognize Sutherland from M*A*S*H, and more recently his role as President Snow in The Hunger Games franchise. Other key players include Cyrus Arnold, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Alexa Niziak, and Joe Tippett.
Is There A Trailer?
Ryan Murphy Productions and Blumhouse Productions released the trailer for Mr. Harrigan's Phone on September 15, 2022. The horror movie trailer introduces the chilling plot and has fans of Stephen King, John Lee Hancock, Ryan Murphy, and Jason Blum all on the edge of their seats until October.
So far, this is the only trailer for the film. There is no word on whether fans will get a second trailer between now and the film's release date.
When Is The Release Date?
The release date for Mr. Harrigan's Phone is October 5, 2002. It will begin streaming on Netflix at midnight on that Wednesday. Given the genre that the two producers work in the most, it comes out around the same time as some of their other exciting projects.
The film is coming only two short weeks after another one of Ryan Murphy's hits the screens, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Blumhouse Production's The Visitor will come two days later on October 7, hopefully adding to the list of iconic Blumhouse horror movie villains.
Is This Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum's First Collaboration?
Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum collaborated to produce John Lee Hancock's screen adaptation of Mr. Harrigan's Phone, but it is not the first time the two Emmy winners have worked together. They collaborated on the 2014 remake of slasher film The Town That Dreaded Sundown.
The slasher gave the two a chance to work together in the horror genre, but they also collaborated on the conversion therapy documentary Pray Away. Their choice to repeatedly join forces on different projects shows that they enjoy working together, so fans are in for a treat with Mr. Harrigan's Phone.
When Does It Take Place?
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
The film takes place in the mid-2000s. The trailer shows Craig gifting Mr. Harrigan the first iPhone models when it just comes out, putting that point in the story at 2007. Dealing with a mid-2000s period piece means the crew had plenty of era-appropriate technology on hand.
Modern cellphones were just beginning to come into their own at this time, which comes through in Stephen King's 2020 novella. The technological horror that results from this terrifying twist on what has become America's most popular smartphone is sure to resonate with audiences.
Is It Terrifying?
While any thriller film that Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum work together on is sure to produce some solid scares, the faint of heart should be able to tolerate Mr. Harrigan's Phone. Hancock said that it's not the horror movie audiences might expect and that it's more of "a cautionary tale in a way," similar to a Brother's Grimm fairy tale (via Netflix).
Horror fans and scaredy cats alike will undoubtedly be able to enjoy this work-of-art coming from the minds of brilliant creatives, just in time for spooky season.