Mr. Harrigan's Phone

First things first -- like many people, I binge horror in October, generally one movie a day from the 1st through the 30th, then, time allowing, two or three on Halloween itself. This movie was my choice for today (I've seen so many horrors that I have to look off the beaten path for new ones sometimes, and sometimes I just get lazy and re-watch an old favorite) So my disappointment stems largely from the fact that I was hoping for an actual horror to fill my daily horror movie.)

This movie had horror elements. That I'll concede. But it wasn't really, overall, in the horror genre. It was a decent drama, and had it been sold as that, with just traces of horror, I would have waited to watch it in November and would have enjoyed it to some extent. Unfortunately, the story of the young boy and the elderly man who became a mentor (of sorts, since the young man never really seemed to completely buy into the old man's rather brutal outlook on life) was interesting for reasons completely unhorrific and selling this movie as a horror -- as of now, that's the only genre tag on its IMDb page -- is likely to alienate people who might otherwise enjoyed the movie on its own merits.

I found Mr. Harrigan's Phone unique. Modern psychological drama; tech horror, I guess. At first, you are guided through very slow-paced storytelling about Craig and his relationship with Mr. Harrigan. This part of the plot is character development. After a turning point near the last third of the story, the horror sets in.

Although Steven King wrote the original short story, this is not a horror movie, even though the movie tries to keep the horror tone throughout its whole length. This movie is about character development and knowing how to deal with death and hard times.

I find this movie to be a worthy adaptation of the short story. However, the story itself is probably not King's best.

Obvious, it is not a great movie. And many parts of it are far to be inspired. But... .

I saw it for Jaeden Martell and Donald Sutherland . And , maybe, being temptated by the name of Stephen King.

And I love it. For acting, for the house, for the idea of reading books to a venerable rich man, for the portrait of friendship out of death, for a sort of kindness and indulgence for answer to desire of revenge and for crumbs of story remembering pieces of my life.

I do not expected nothing . And being a sentimental guy, I ignored the holes or the incoherence or the confuse message or the pathetism.

First, because Sutherland and Martell are real good.

Second, because it is just a story about ordinary, profound significant things, having the gift/ desire only to remind them and proposing a fair perspective about them.

Not the last, because it is not exactly a horror. More a sort of confession/ reflection/ moral lesson. Working not so bad.

Just finished watching and was pleasantly surprised. I didn't think that Mr Harrington's Phone would be a good enough storyline to be brought to the big-screen but, evidently, it has. The people moaning about it not being scary are way off. The short novella was really good but it was more of a drama like the movie. The movie does differ on some aspects of the source material and I don't know why it did as it worked perfectly fine in the writing. All I'll say is, don't expect horror. You'll not at one single point be scared, but the book never tried to be. It's just down simply as horror as that description goes down well with movie descriptions and Stephen King.

Such good acting. It is slow, but you become invested in the characters early enough to stay interested. Donald Sutherland did AMAZING. Every time he was on the screen you wanted to watch him. It's been a while since he was so captivating on screen. It is deep and has an underlying message which may irritate people, but I agree with that message so I related to the movie well. Cell phones/Smart phones aren't always the best use of our time, or the healthiest option for our own minds. They have become addictive and overused in our society to the point that people can no longer think objectively. I don't like that the mom was never really explained.