Despite being based on a Stephen King story, and the fact that I've chosen to pair its review with one for the new "Hellraiser" film, "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" is not a horror movie. It's a ghost story and coming of age story, written and directed by John Lee Hancock. Not having kept up with Stephen King's output in recent years, I don't know if he's taken aim at the digital world before, but it's definitely a major theme here. The first half of "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" chronicles the relationship between a rich old man, Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland), and the youngster, Craig (Jaeden Martell), who has been hired to come read to him in his home, three times a week. I don't consider it too much of a spoiler to reveal that the second half is about what happens to Craig after Mr. Harrigan passes away.
There's a deliberately measured pace to "Mr. Harrigan," and a carefulness with the way that it sets up the location, characters, and themes that I greatly appreciate. You might not like the story being told, but it's told well. The supernatural element is undeniable, but this rarely feels like a genre film, with little as far as thrills and chills. Rather, this almost feels like a memoir, something very personal, with prose-like first person narration throughout. Events unfold in an incidental manner, spanning months and years. There are deaths and unexplained phenomena, but there are no major twists or reveals. You can work out every beat of the story from watching the trailer. The filmmakers are far less interested in the "be careful what you wish for" framework than the friendship between Craig and Mr. Harrigan, and the relationships both of them develop with technology. This is where the film is the most interesting, and purposeful. Martell and Sutherland are well matched, with Sutherland giving us glimpses at a man of many contradictions and mysteries.
A supernatural film feels like the wrong shape for this story. It might be better suited to an episode of an anthology, or a totally different genre. When the ghosts and the deaths inevitably show up, they feel half-hearted and underserved. I doubt you could have gotten the movie made with these actors and this budget if this wasn't based on a Stephen King story, and there wasn't the promise of the macabre, but the filmmakers aren't fooling anybody. I genuinely enjoyed the first half of "Mr. Harrigan's Phone," but the rest was essentially an extended denouement. Still, as long as you understand what you're getting yourself into, this one is worth seeing, especially for Stephen King fans.
Now, the "Hellraiser" reboot is definitely a horror film. As someone who found the original "Hellraiser" films intriguing, but never all that compelling, I was curious as to how director David Bruckner was going to update the material. Well, we've got a puzzle box and portals to Hell. Pinhead has been replaced by an androgynous Hell Priest (Jamie Clayton), and all the black leather BDSM gear has been retired, but the Cenobites are out in force and look as gruesome as ever. The sexual deviancy and sadomasochism that distinguished the first film have been mostly removed, though there's still plenty of torture and mutilation afoot - some of it much more graphic than I was expecting.
The "Hellraiser" mythology has always been mystifying to me, so I was immediately inclined to be on this film's side because it is easily the most comprehensible "Hellraiser" film I've seen to date. The puzzle box that summons the Cenobites from Hell, falls into the hands of a troubled drug addict named Riley (Odessa A'zion), who finds it when she and her boyfriend Trevor (Drew Starkey) loot an abandoned storage warehouse. Their friends and loved ones fall victim to the Cenobites as Riley figures out each new configuration of the puzzle box requires a new sacrifice, and once all six sides are solved, she'll be granted a wish from "God" - the Leviathan of the labyrinth of Hell. The box previously belonged to an evil businessman named Voight (Goran Visnijc), who is still around and trying to ensure the box is solved, for his own ends.
I'm impressed that the filmmakers here kept so much of the original imagery from those first "Hellraiser" films - even the glimpses of Hell look pretty close to the originals. And while the sex has been toned down, the violence and torture sure haven't been. The Cenobites are still the pain-worshiping sadists we know and love, wielding chains and needles and demonic bon mots as well as they ever have. The humans are terrible, but the humans are always terrible in these movies, and I suspect we'd all be complaining if they weren't terrible. I still don't think this is the horror franchise for me, but fans should be satisfied with the new movie. It certainly feels like "Hellraiser," and is very accessible for any newcomers who might be curious about this universe.
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