Quantity over quality appears to be the way Netflix approaches its content strategy, with each acclaimed in-house original being comfortably outweighed by a worrying number of instantly forgettable exclusives. It isn’t just restricted to blockbusters, either, with Mr. Harrigan’s Phone the latest in an almost never-ending line of underwhelming features that have left viewers yawning.
Of course, the combination of Stephen King’s name slapped all over the marketing and the glossy sheen of Netflix’s high production values has been enough to see the crushingly dull “horror” (there’s a reason why the genre has been put in quotation marks) make an instant splash on the streaming service’s viewership rankings.
As per FlixPatrol, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone has soared right into the Top 10 in no less than 71 countries, even if it’s only managed to reach the summit in 17 of them so far. While it could – and realistically should – dethrone Blonde to become the platform’s number one feature on a global scale, a 32 percent Rotten Tomatoes score could end up working against it.
Then again, fan reactions tend to be taken onboard more than what the critics say in the online sphere, so the misleading film being blasted for not really being a horror at all may dissuade gorehounds from checking it out, even though we’re heading full tilt into spooky season.
With Mike Flanagan’s The Midnight Club and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Werewolf by Night arriving imminently, too, subscribers to the biggest on-demand heavyweights may be inclined to check out those horror-tinged efforts ahead of Mr. Harrigan’s Phone over the weekend and steal its thunder in the process.
