Stephen King’s Underrated Netflix Thriller Is the Perfect ‘It’ Follow-up

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Stephen King’s It is a famously scary story, and the 1990 miniseries with Tim Curry as Pennywise terrified a whole generation. The 2017 movie directed by Andy Muschietti, featuring Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, was even more successful, becoming a worldwide hit. The recent series, It: Welcome to Derry, has added even more detail to the story’s setting. At its core, It is a coming-of-age tale about a group of young friends who overcome personal struggles and learn the power of teamwork.

With so many adaptations of Stephen King’s work, it’s easy for some to get overlooked. Even dedicated fans might have missed some, like the eleventh Children of the Corn movie or the 2023 prequel to Pet Sematary. Despite this, many excellent King adaptations don’t receive the attention they deserve. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is a prime example – a surprisingly scary coming-of-age story that quickly faded from view on Netflix. But it remains a great choice for fans of It, exploring similar, unsettling themes that are sure to captivate audiences.

Audiences Don’t Remember Getting a Call From ‘Mr. Harrigan’s Phone’

In 2022, Ryan Murphy, known for creating American Horror Story, collaborated with Blumhouse, a popular horror production company, to bring Stephen King’s novella Mr. Harrigan’s Phone to the screen. This story originally appeared in King’s 2020 collection, If It Bleeds. The film was written and directed by John Lee Hancock, following his work on The Little Things with Denzel Washington, and stars Jaeden Martell, Joe Tippett, and Donald Sutherland. The plot revolves around Craig (Martell), a lonely teenager who befriends his elderly neighbor, Mr. Harrigan (Sutherland), helping him with tasks and reading to him. As they grow closer, Craig gives Mr. Harrigan a smartphone to stay connected. Tragically, Mr. Harrigan passes away, and Craig places the phone in his coffin as a final gesture of their friendship.

Following Mr. Harrigan’s death, strange things start happening. Craig begins calling his old phone, sharing his problems with a bully and letting him know he’s missed. He’s shocked when the bully suddenly faces consequences, and it seems like Harrigan is somehow communicating from beyond the grave through the phone. The story becomes a complex and unsettling one, exploring difficult questions about friendship and revenge, and transforming a typical coming-of-age story into a darker tale about lost innocence.

As a big Stephen King fan, I’ve noticed a pattern in his stories, and Mr. Harrigan’s Phone definitely fits right in with films like It and It: Welcome to Derry. It’s all about a young person grappling with really tough loss and how that pushes them into adulthood, sometimes in ways that seem a little reckless. It’s actually pretty interesting to see Jaeden Martell in both this and It – he seems to be a King adaptation regular! In Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, his character, Craig, is still hurting from his mother’s death, and he finds a surprising connection with Mr. Harrigan, but their relationship gets thrown into some seriously dark territory. Like the best horror, this Netflix film isn’t just about scares; it uses the supernatural to explore Craig’s emotional struggles, making it a surprisingly thoughtful and creepy watch.

When Mr. Harrigan’s Phone arrived on Netflix in 2022, it received mixed reactions from both critics and viewers. While the acting by Martell and Sutherland was widely appreciated, many found the movie’s slow pace frustrating. Considering it was based on a Stephen King story, some viewers also felt it lacked sufficient scares, with the focus on emotional depth sometimes overshadowing the horror aspects. Despite this, the film boasts a fantastic atmosphere, compelling characters, and thought-provoking themes, making Mr. Harrigan’s Phone a worthwhile thriller that genre fans shouldn’t overlook.

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2026-03-29 04:20