Netflix has released the trailer for its latest Stephen King adaptation, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, which is based on the short story by the same name. In the trailer, we see Craig, played by Jaeden Martell (who starred in the recent It adaptations and Knives Out), bonding with the titular Mr. Harrigan, an aging billionaire played by Donald Sutherland (President Snow in The Hunger Games and Mr. Bennet in 2005’s Pride and Prejudice).
According to Netflix’s description, the movie is about Craig and Mr. Harrigan’s bond over their first iPhones, which seemingly allow them to stay connected after the older man dies. The trailer, of course, seems much more sinister; the boy leaves a voicemail for the man after he’s dead, which leads to him getting a call back and his bully being found dead. (Hopefully the movie is better than that other Netflix adaptation with a similar concept. Thankfully, Netflix has a decent track record making movies from Stephen King stories.)
One quirk that’s almost distractingly obvious in the trailer is how old the phones are. Mr. Harrigan is given what appears to be an original iPhone, and later in the trailer, we see Craig using an iPhone 4 or 4S. The short story the movie’s adapting isn’t from that time period — it was published in 2020’s If It Bleeds, but perhaps it’s simply more believable that the characters are getting their first smartphones in the late 2000s rather than jumping in with the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Image: Netflix
The movie will be available to stream on Netflix starting October 5th, just in time for the Halloween spooky movie season to begin. Personally, I look forward to watching it and desperately trying to distract myself with my own phone during the many shots in the trailer that really seem like they’re going to end with a jump scare.