Mr. Harrigan’s Phone follows a young boy named Craig who develops a close bond with an old billionaire that refuses to die even after the latter’s death.
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is a horror film adaptation of Stephen King’s short novella of the same name. The film stars Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Joe Tippett, and Cyrus Arnold. The film is written and directed by John Lee Hancock, who’s known for Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and The Founder (2016).
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone Story Summary
Harlow is a small town in Maine where young Craig (Jaeden Martell) lives with his father. Craig’s father was a skilled salesman who often bagged the ‘Salesman of the Year’ award. But things changed when Craig’s mother died. Craig knew that his father missed his mother more than he did.
One day, Craig meets Mr. John Harrigan (Donald Sutherland), the wealthiest man in Maine, at the church. Later, Mr. Harrigan talks to Craig’s father to let Craig read books for him at his home as he is losing his eyesight. Mr. Harrigan also agrees to pay Craig $5 for the job.
The book reading sessions go smoothly for some days. In time, Craig gets curious about the closed closet in Mr. Harrigan’s mansion. He asks Mr. Harrigan about what’s inside the closet, and Mr. Harrigan tells him that it contains some “terrible secrets.”
Later that day, Craig looks up Mr. Harrigan on the internet. Mr. Harrigan had gone through many financial disasters, including some failed businesses, making him poorly liked among the community.
Time passes, and Craig grows up to be a high schooler attending Gates Falls High School. Mike, or U-Boat as everybody called him, agrees to give the new kids a tour of the school at a price.
On his first day at school, Craig feels exposed to an alien world. He comes to know that all the cool kids in school have cell phones. Craig also goes through his first instance of being ragged.
For five years, Craig has been reading books for Mr. Harrigan. On Christmas, Craig’s father gifts him an iPhone, helping Craig become part of the “Popular Club” at school. At the same time, Craig also wins $3000 from a lotto ticket given to him by Mr. Harrigan for years.
Over time, Craig has grown a deep bond with Mr. Harrigan. One day, Mr. Harrigan asks Craig why he keeps coming back despite having many other things he could be doing with his time. Craig reveals that he loves coming to Mr. Harrigan’s place as it gives him a sense of power when he reads the books aloud for Mr. Harrigan.
Craig decides to buy Mr. Harrigan an iPhone from the lotto money, helping Mr. Harrigan understand how he can keep himself updated with the stock market and other news just through his phone. Mr. Harrigan loved the phone for a while before he realized it was just a matter of time before these devices started controlling the user.
In one instance, Craig asks Mr. Harrigan his reason behind choosing Harlow. Mr. Harrigan reveals that he wanted to be away from people because when people asked something of him, he always answered their wishes. Before Craig left that day, Mr. Harrigan asked him never to forgive his enemies if they ever came his way.
The next time Craig meets Mr. Harrigan, Craig finds him lifeless with his cell phone in his hand. In his last moments, Mr. Harrigan was dialing Craig’s number. Before the funeral, Craig leaves Mr. Harrigan’s cell phone with him in his casket before bidding a final farewell.
After the funeral, Craig and his dad are approached by Mr. Harrigan’s business manager, who hands Craig a letter left by Mr. Harrigan. Craig discovers that Mr. Harrigan has left behind $800,000 for Craig’s college and other future expenses. Weirdly, the letter also contained a small message that seemed to reply to an SMS sent by Craig to Mr. Harrigan’s cell phone after his death.
Doubtful that Mr. Harrigan was buried alive, Craig leaves a voice mail on Mr. Harrigan’s cell phone. To his surprise, Craig finds an SMS from Mr. Harrigan’s cell phone in the morning. He quickly rushes to tell his father that Mr. Harrigan is alive. But Craig’s father tells him that an autopsy was conducted on Mr. Harrigan; it’s not possible that Mr. Harrigan is still alive.
Craig pays a visit to Edna, Mr. Harrigan’s reliable house help. In the conversation with her, Craig learns about Mr. Harrigan’s former gardener, who was caught stealing by Mr. Harrigan. Edna hints that Mr. Harrigan was a square dealing guy, and one did not want to be on his wrong side.
After believing that it was just a case of a phone hack, Craig moves on with his life. Kenny Yankovich (Cyrus Arnold), the bully on campus, gets expelled for selling weed on campus, making Craig’s life easier. At the winter dance, Kenny also manages to get an invite from his crush, Regina.
But Craig gets in trouble when Kenny Yankovich beats Craig for ratting him out without knowing that the school’s bus driver did it. Craig refuses to reveal Kenny’s name to the school’s science teacher Victoria Hart (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and his father as he believes it will complicate things more. However, Craig leaves a voice mail on Mr. Harrigan’s phone explaining how he fears Kenny will come for him again.
When Craig wakes up the following day, he learns from U-Boat that Kenny Yankovich is dead. The school magazine attributes his death to a tragic incident. Craig starts doubting whether Mr. Hannigan’s ghost had some role in it.
To investigate more, Craig decides to visit the Bilodeaus to talk to Dusty Bilodeau, the gardener who was fired by Mr. Harrigan. Craig finds out that Dusty died a year after being fired by Mr. Harrigan. Importantly, even before killing himself, Dusty was full of hatred for Mr. Harrigan.
That night, Craig leaves another voice mail on Mr. Harrigan’s cell phone asking him whether he had any role in Kenny’s death. Moments later, Craig receives a message that says – “a. a. C C C x.” It was the same message that Craig received after Mr. Harrigan’s death.
After this incident, Craig visits the father at the church and shares everything with him. The priest also consoles Craig that Kenny died while escaping from his window on the house’s first floor. Kenny was also drunk. The priest, however, does not reveal the fact that Kenny was found with shoe polish stuffed in his face – the same shoe polish that Kenny handed to Craig to make Craig shine his shoes on the first day at school.
Craig decides to move on as he buys a new phone. He finally makes himself believe that it was probably a glitch with his old iPhone. However, he does not give his old cell phone away.
Read More: Goodnight Mommy Ending Explained: What happened to Lucas?
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone Ending Explained
As time passes by, Craig gets admitted to college and is forced to move away from his father. At college, Craig studies well and makes new friends. Unfortunately, Craig’s life gets disrupted again when he gets a call from his father, who tells him that Victoria – Craig’s helpful science teacher from school – died in a car accident.
Deane Whitmore was the man responsible for the accident as he was driving drunk. He was a habitual offender who did not even have a live license. To Craig’s disappointment, Deane gets away as he gets sent to a rehab center.
In a fit of anger, Craig picks up his old phone and dials Mr. Harrigan’s cell phone, leaving a voice mail saying that he wanted Deane Whitmore dead. Quickly after, Craig regrets his decision and hopes nothing will happen to Deane.
Contrary to Craig’s hopes, he discovers that Deane died in a shower accident at the rehab center after choking on half a piece of soap from a brand called Bath Baby – the same brand that Victoria used.
What was the connection between Craig and Mr. Harrigan?
Finally, Craig decides to see for himself what’s inside the closet in Mr. Harrigan’s mansion. He discovers that it merely contained photos and memories of Mr. Harrigan’s past. Craig realizes that he has much in common with Mr. Harrigan, who also lost his mother at a young age and led a lonely life.
Realizing that Mr. Harrigan has been just trying to protect Craig all this while, Craig visits his grave and thanks him. He assumes that Mr. Harrigan has been just trying to communicate with him through cryptic messages.
Before leaving the cemetery, Craig also visits his mother’s grave – an action that Craig has been avoiding all these years to escape the reality that his mother is gone forever.
In the end, Craig decides to part ways with Mr. Harrigan forever. He throws his old phone, through which he contacts Mr. Harrigan, in the river that flows through Harlow. He also contemplates throwing his new phone away too but decides against it, realizing that mobiles connect people in the 21st century.
Nonetheless, Craig is sure he doesn’t want to take his mobile phone to his grave.
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is now streaming on Netflix.
Read More: Nope Ending Explained: Does OJ solve the mystery behind the UFO?