Mr. Harrigan's Phone
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): October 5, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
6
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiOct 6, 2022
It may not provide the rush of adrenaline that many people seek from their horror movies but Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is a smart and elegant piece of creepiness. Read full review
80
CNNBrian LowryOct 5, 2022
Add Mr. Harrigan’s Phone to the relatively short list of really good Stephen King adaptations, garnishing a coming-of-age story with understated hints of the supernatural and thoughtful rumination about cellphones that finds true horror in their ubiquity. Amid a month of Halloween-tinged offerings, it might be one of the few to share with the kids – at least, before the next time you punish them by taking their phone away. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 4, 2022
There aren’t enough scares to keep you on edge in Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, but there’s enough else going on to keep you interested. Read full review
70
The New York TimesLisa KennedyOct 6, 2022
There’s a bittersweetness to Craig and Harrigan’s friendship and good chemistry between the leads. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonOct 4, 2022
Stephen King fans will respond immediately to the atmosphere writer-director John Lee Hancock creates at the outset of Mr. Harrigan’s Phone—a world of perpetual autumn and incipient unease, a white-clapboard Maine where the chill gets into the bones and the soul. Read full review
67
ColliderMarco Vito OddoOct 4, 2022
Despite its flaws, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone remains a careful adaptation of one of King’s most touching stories to date. And while there are not many frights in this horror movie, it remains a solid entry of Netflix’s enviable collection of King’s adaptations. Read full review
65
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaOct 4, 2022
It's a type of slow-burn, psychological horror. The type of thrills and chills that don't register at first, but come creeping back when you're in bed, awake at night, unable to sleep, and the darkness starts to creep in. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayOct 7, 2022
It’s not scary; it is instead an alternately touching and haunting story. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoOct 5, 2022
There’s a lot of potential in the ideas that King plays with in “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone.” If only they had been given to a filmmaker willing to answer the call. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckOct 4, 2022
Unfortunately, despite its intriguing premise, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone lacks the necessary ingredient to make it truly memorable; it simply isn’t very scary. Read full review
50
VarietyDennis HarveyOct 4, 2022
The results, balancing overfamiliar warm-and-fuzzy growing-up saga and halfhearted horror revenge tale, evaporate quickly from the mind — there’s little cumulative force that might linger. Yet at the same time, Hancock does an admirable job keeping this hour and three-quarters polished and engaging, maintaining consistent viewer interest even if the ultimate reward underwhelms. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubCourtney HowardOct 4, 2022
Though its narrative contains some subtleties, and Hancock’s aesthetic polish gives it a nice gloss, the picture’s pacing and character-driven momentum frequently sputters, ultimately leading to diminished results. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeOct 6, 2022
It’s solidly acted by Martell and Sutherland, although the latter seems as desperate as we are to let loose and have a bit more fun, and has a confident sense of place as King adaptations often do but it’s all rather unforgivably dull, a call to be swiftly ignored. Read full review
39
Paste MagazineJacob OllerOct 4, 2022
Those unfortunate enough to populate Mr. Harrigan’s Phone must be as dumb as the movie thinks we are. This low opinion of its audience is apparent in every step of its narrative and in some of its stranger creative choices. Read full review
33
IndieWireDavid EhrlichOct 4, 2022
A downcast and thoroughly dreadful supernatural drama that somehow fails to mine even a moment of fun out of a cautionary tale premised on the idea that your smartphone might literally be a portal to hell. Read full review
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