Mr. Harrigan's Phone Trailer: The Latest Stephen King Adaptation Heads To Netflix

The Stephen King adaptation renaissance is showing no signs of slowing down, in large part thanks to Netflix, which has recently brought three of the author's short stories to our screens. Joining the streamer's library alongside Mike Flanagan's "Gerald's Game," Zak Hilditch's "1922," and Vincenzo Natali's "In The Tall Grass," Netflix has finally released a trailer for the upcoming film, "Mr. Harrigan's Phone," another movie based on a chilling story from the famed horror writer. This time around, the supernatural is clashing with one of the scariest concepts of all: growing up. The film comes from writer-director John Lee Hancock ("The Highwaymen," "The Little Things") and stars Jaeden Martell and Donald Sutherland in the lead roles.

Coming-of-age drama takes center stage in this story about Craig (Martell), a teenage boy befriending a reclusive billionaire (Sutherland as the titular Mr. Harrigan). They form a bond so strong that not even death can split them apart; Craig learns this the hard way when his elder companion passed away, and he accidentally stumbles upon a way to keep their connection alive. As you can probably imagine, a lot of bone-chilling consequences ensue, which involve more than a few bodies piling up as Craig grapples with the horrifying reality that he's stumbled into. So how exactly do these two break down the barriers of life and death? With — and bear with me here — an iPhone.

Nothing compares to the horrors of a call coming from inside the house but you've gotta admit' a call coming from inside a coffin isn't much better. Martell's Craig is pretty freaked out to discover that Mr. Harrigan is still sending him messages via an iPhone. Here's the official synopsis:

When Craig, a young boy living in a small town (Jaeden Martell) befriends Mr. Harrigan, an older, reclusive billionaire (Donald Sutherland), the two begin to form an unlikely bond over their love of books and reading. But when Mr. Harrigan sadly passes away, Craig discovers that not everything is dead and gone and strangely finds himself able to communicate with his friend from the grave through the iPhone in this supernatural coming-of-age story that shows that certain connections are never lost.

If "It" and "Stand By Me" have taught us anything, it's the power of Stephen King when it comes to coming-of-age stories. This one in particular makes an interesting vehicle for King adaptation alum Jaeden Martell, who we've previously seen shine as an alt-right troll in "Knives Out," a potential sociopath in "Defending Jacob," and the leader of the Losers Club in "It." Another point in the film's favor is that it already has the Stephen King stamp of approval: the author took to Twitter last month to call the movie "nothing short of brilliant" after seeing a close-to-finished cut.

I have seen a close-to-finished cut of MR. HARRIGAN'S PHONE, written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and it's nothing short of brilliant. Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell. Netflix. This fall.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) August 12, 2022

The film is directed and written by Hancock and produced by Ryan Murphy, Jason Blum, and Carla Hacken. Joe Tippett, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Cyrus Arnold, Colin O'Brien, Thomas Francis Murphy, and Peggy J. Scott also co-star with Martell and Sutherland.

"Mr. Harrigan's Phone" comes to Netflix on October 5, 2022.