Mr. Harrigan's

Stephen King and his son, Joe Hill, had adaptations of their short stories released this year. Here is how they are similar and completely different.

The narrative is one of the most optimistic by the author, and the horror moments are short and very scarce. [the idea of revenge](https://movieweb.com/best-revenge-movies-ranked/) and being able to avenge the dead. It was a great coincidence that both of the movies explored, through the phone, the idea of being able to have a connection to those who have died. Both kids are subject to bullying, and there is a lot of violence, physical and psychological, when depicting the bullying and the lack of apparent consequences the bullies have (at least until they are too severe). [The excellent Black Phone](https://movieweb.com/the-black-phone-review/) tells the story of Finney (Mason Thames), a young boy who is kidnapped by a serial killer called The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) and has to escape before he becomes one of the victims. It is important to point out that they have very different age ratings, which can directly influence the level of horror and more explicit moments presented on the screen. Harrigan's Phone is about a young teen called Craig (Jaeden Martell, who is not unfamiliar with King's adaptations to the big screen; he was a part of IT). Harrigan (Donald Sutherland) for a few years, and they often communicate by phone so that they are able to talk with more ease. It is interesting that both movies were released in the same year (which has been very nice to horror fans around the world) since they have very similar aspects, but at the same time, couldn't be more different. Along with the supernatural help of his sister, who dreams about things before they happen, Finney receives help from a disconnected black phone in the dingy basement where he is held. The new movie is an adaptation of a short story by none other than the [king of horror, Stephen King](https://movieweb.com/recent-adaptations-of-stephen-king-books/). King has a son, Joe Hill, who is also a writer who had an adaptation of his own short story released in 2022: [The Black Phone](https://movieweb.com/movie/the-black-phone/).

'Mr Harrigan's Phone' (2022) starring Jaeden Martell and Donald Sutherland is understanding, empathetic, and more mature than other Stephen King ...

It has times to teach and times to sit back and watch. Yes, there are a moments of over-editing that aren’t needed, and some conversations in which there are too many cuts for no reason at all, but for the most part the direction is understated, unnoticed, and has managed to escape the editing suite unscathed. John Lee Hancock, however, has thankfully managed to battle through the attempts from both Netflix and Blumhouse to throw jump scares galore into anything they can get their grubby paws on, Mr Harrigan’s Phone being a simple, graceful, solemn affair which dispenses with almost all horror tropes. Sometimes they’re astonishing, and elsewise they’re cheap and nasty affairs that are affronts to cinema (see this year’s re-adaptation/remake of [It](https://www.thefilmagazine.com/highest-grossing-horror-films-ranked/)) is Craig, a kid with a good reading voice who lost his mother some years before. It is what King does better than anyone: a coming-of-age tale for the suburban American kid, which happens to have a ghost or two in the background.

In the case of writer/director John Lee Hancock's Mr. Harrigan's Phone, the new movie based on the novella of the same name by Stephen King, this was something ...

[Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide](https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1715420/upcoming-stephen-king-movies). As a kid, Craig is hired by his wealthy neighbor to read aloud classic literature, and over time the two of them form a close bond. He told me that he had recently found the copy of the book he had during production on the coming-of-age/horror movie, and the first notation he made to himself in the margins says everything about how he saw the prose as he was getting into character: [Jaeden Martell (who has significant Stephen King movie history)](https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/why-jaeden-martells-it-history-didnt-specifically-impact-his-role-in-new-stephen-king-adaptation-mr-harrigans-phone) plays the mentioned Craig in Mr. [Netflix subscription](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/netflix-subscription-the-plans-the-price-and-whats-included), and when I recently interviewed Martell about his work on the film, I specifically asked about his relationship with Stephen King’s story (which is featured in the 2020 novella omnibus If It Bleeds). When one compares a book and its adaptation, there are always particular details that are lost – regardless of how faithful the latter may be to the former. In the case of writer/director John Lee Hancock’s Mr.