'Mr. Harrigan's Phone' gets its message across with a smart Stephen King adaptation

CNN  — 

Add “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” to the relatively abbreviated list of truly bully Stephen King adaptations, garnishing a coming-of-age communicative with understated hints of the supernatural and thoughtful rumination astir cellphones that finds existent fearfulness successful their ubiquity. Amid a period of Halloween-tinged offerings, it mightiness beryllium 1 of the fewer to stock with the kids – astatine least, earlier the adjacent clip you punish them by taking their telephone away.

Featuring the co-star of different caller King adaptation (“It” prima Jaeden Martell) arsenic the teenage protagonist, Craig, the movie benefits enormously from 87-year-old Donald Sutherland’s enactment successful the rubric role, playing a reclusive billionaire who pays the lad to travel work to him a fewer times a week successful his sprawling estate.

Set astir 15 years successful the past, erstwhile Craig yet convinces his widowed dada (Joe Tippett) to interruption down and get him an aboriginal iPhone arsenic helium starts precocious schoolhouse – hoping to acceptable successful with the chill kids – Craig decides to usage immoderate Lotto-won currency to besides bargain 1 for Mr. Harrigan.

The aged antheral pooh-poohs the instrumentality astatine first, earlier becoming enamored with it, recognizing not lone its myriad uses but besides its corrosive possibilities. In 1 highly amusing ramble, Mr. Harrigan rattles disconnected each unspeakable happening that the cellphone mightiness unleash, calling it “a gateway drug” for each mode of societal ills, including the dissemination of bogus news.

“All of america request to beryllium precise frightened by this gizmo,” helium says.

Although determination is, inevitably, a macabre constituent to travel – erstwhile Mr. Harrigan dies, and Craig’s telephone someway inactive seems to beryllium communicating with his – the bosom of the movie resides successful those exchanges, and the enslaved that forms betwixt the two. Faced with a bully (Cyrus Arnold), Craig sheepishly asks however Mr. Harrigan dealt with them backmost successful the day, to which helium icily responds, “Harshly.”

Written and directed by John Lee Hancock (“The Blind Side”), “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” exhibits a level of restraint not regularly associated with the movie’s 2 high-profile producers, Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story”) and the prolific fearfulness maven Jason Blum. That’s the vantage successful approaching the worldly arsenic a drama, wherever the fearfulness serves the communicative without overwhelming it.

Those who retrieve volition spot parallels with a peculiar “The Twilight Zone” episode, wherever a young lad spoke with his grandma from the beyond, but the underlying informing astir iPhones breathes caller aerial into the concept. (Whether the movie promotes Apple’s flagship merchandise portion decrying its effects volition apt be, to notation different “Twilight Zone,” successful the oculus of the beholder.)

The occurrence of “It” helped spur the surge successful cinematic hunger, some successful movies and television, for each things King, but similar “The Dead Zone,” it’s often the author’s little flamboyant works that marque for the champion adaptations. While it could easy get mislaid successful the Halloween noise, this astute “Phone” deserves an enthusiastic reception, with a connection that comes done large and clear.

“Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” premieres October 5 connected Netflix.