O Telefone do Sr. Harrigan

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 watched "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" on Netflix last night. It is based on the short story of the same name by Stephen King. It is about a young man (Jaeden Martell) recruited by a billionaire (Donald Sutherland) to read to the old man since the man's eyesight is failing. Of course, since this is a Stephen King novel, there is a mystery involved with a hint of horror. But the main part of the story is the development of respect and friendship between the old man and the young man. It is very well acted by the two leads and is definitely worth a look. Some horror fans were disappointed by the lack of gore, but to me that is not the point of the story. Check it out for yourself and see if you agree. 7/10.

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.

When I saw the trailer for this film, I was kind of excited since it's based on a story for Stephen King, and the premise was interesting, plus the two main lead actors (Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell) are definitely great.

As the story progress, I kept waiting for the cool parts to start happening, but sadly they hardly ever happened, and all we saw is a big indirect advertising campaign for iphone (not that Apple needs it), but seriously the whole movie is based on the iphone.

Another thing that got me confused is how the movie's genre says "horror" but it has no such thing, it's very misleading, it's more of a drama thriller.

I loved the parts when Craig was reading to Harrigan, and how their relationship got stronger, in spite of the vast difference between them.

I guess the main message the film is trying to convey is the effect of modern technology (in this case the smartphone) on our lives, and how it completely disengage us from the real world, and end up controlling us and feeding us lies. And also to be careful what we wish for.

"When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers". Oscar Wilde.

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.