First ‘Mr. Harrigan’s Phone’ reviews suggest a faithful, if mislabeled, horror feature

He may be the first name to pop into one’s head when talking about horror books, but the work of Stephen King has long been a nigh-unstoppable force in the world of cinema; even a woeful Rotten Tomatoes score for 2022’s Firestarter adaptation can’t stop the creative goldmine of King’s brain, which has brought us the likes of It, Gerald’s Game, and more adaptations of Carrie than we care to keep track of.

Regardless, it seems like every King adaptation falls quite firmly on one side or the other as far as critical reception goes; they tend to be either instant classics or instant taboos. But at the moment, it looks like Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, the latest of King’s stories to receive the screen treatment, refuses to subscribe to such a history.

Indeed, early reviews for the upcoming Netflix film seem reluctant to sing any praises while also refusing to write it off in any way that’s even a bit scathing.

Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting was part of the overwhelming consensus that, for a horror film, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is not a particularly scary film at all. That, much like many of its creative choices, made for a film that created an equal amount of pillars and pitfalls for itself.

“…an emphasis on the details over the story or scares make for an uneven though frequently poignant journey.”

Slash Film‘s Chris Evangelista marked it as “a good old-fashioned ghost story” that perhaps could have used a director other than John Lee Hancock.

“He’s a workman filmmaker; someone who knows where the point the camera, and why, without putting much more thought into it. The end result is a sturdy-enough chiller that could’ve been even better.”

And Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter was slightly more critical than the rest about its status as a horror film that doesn’t seem interested in scaring the audience.

“Unfortunately, despite its intriguing premise, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone lacks the necessary ingredient to make it truly memorable; it simply isn’t very scary.”

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone releases to Netflix on Oct. 5.