Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Mr. Harrigan's Phone. Continue at your own risk.
Netflix just added another successful Stephen King adaptation to its library with Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, a coming-of-age ghost story starring Jaeden Martell and Donald Sutherland. The movie follows the improbable friendship between a lower-middle-class teenage boy (Martell) and a wealthy elderly man (Sutherland), who keeps in touch even when death threatens to break their bond. While Mr. Harrigan’s Phone works as a pretty straightforward coming-of-age story, with Martell’s Craig finding out who he is while surviving high school hell, the movie has its fair share of supernatural elements to keep the audience guessing until the end. And if you are still haunted by doubts after the credits roll, we break down everything that happens at Mr. Harrigan’s Phone’s ending.
Did You Hear Your Phone Ring?
For over half its runtime, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone explores the relationship between Craig and Mr. Harrigan without any allusion to the supernatural. The titular billionaire is a reclusive man who’s losing sight, leading him to hire Craig to read him books three times per week. Mr. Harrigan chose Craig because he knew the boy had lost his mother. So, since the beginning of their relationship, Craig and Mr. Harrigan are united by their loneliness and grief.
As time passes, Mr. Harrigan teaches Craig the recipe for his success. While the billionaire is a just man, he’s also ruthless with his enemies. It’s no wonder that Mr. Harrigan’s led multiple work associates to commit suicide over the years, a deadly trail of blood that underlines the elderly man is not as good as Craig first thinks he is. Craig also teaches new things to Mr. Harrigan, mainly how to use a smartphone. The device becomes an important tool Craig and Mr. Harrigan use to communicate with each other. So, once Mr. Harrigan dies, Craig hides the man’s phone in his pocket.
Mr. Harrigan is buried with his phone, and for reasons unknown, he will use the device to reach out to Craig. Mostly, Mr. Harrigan sends some cryptic messages that Craig cannot decipher. But after Craig calls his dead friend to vent about a bully (Cyrus Arnold) who’s threatening his life, the supernatural presence of Mr. Harrigan can no longer be denied. That’s because the bully is found dead under mysterious circumstances. And while the police dismiss his death as an accident, Craig wonders if Mr. Harrigan’s ghost might have something to do with it.
Years go by and Craig uses the money Mr. Harrigan left him to get to college and study journalism. Craig uses a new phone in college, one that doesn’t seem connected to Mr. Harrigan. His old phone, however, remains hidden in his father's house. So, once Craig learns about his former high school teacher, Ms. Hart (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), dying in a car accident, he decides to reach out to his dead friend again. Ms. Hart died after her car was hit by a drunk driver, who got out of the accident unscathed. What’s worse is that the driver used his money and power to evade prison, getting a light sentence at a luxurious recovery center instead. It’s not fair that Ms. Hart is dead due to another person drinking and driving, but it is just outrageous that the man responsible will not get punished as he should. Moved by his rage, Craig leaves a message to Mr. Harrigan, saying he wants the man dead. Of course, the drunk driver dies in his shower, committing suicide by swallowing soap and blocking his air vents.
The drunk driver's alleged suicide is a wake-up call for Craig, who realizes he’s now responsible for another person’s death. Eaten from the inside out by guilt, Craig decides to cut ties with Mr. Harrigan once and for all. Before that, he visits his old friend’s grave, to apologize for calling with such a horrible request. Craig also understands what Mr. Harrigan was trying to tell him through his cryptic message, as the ghost’s last message, “C C C sT,” is probably saying, “Craig, stop.”
Craig doesn’t know if Mr. Harrigan is asking him to stop because the boy’s request causes the dead man some harm or if the dead billionaire is just trying to protect the boy’s soul. Whatever Mr. Harrigan’s motives might be, Craig throws his old phone in the lake, never to be found again. Mr. Harrigan will remain in Craig’s heart and memories as he helped the boy to forge his own identity. But it's dangerous to keep calling someone beyond the veil of death, and Craig decides to live the rest of his life without counting on the supernatural.
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is currently available on Netflix. Check out the movie’s trailer below: