Netflix’s new Stephen King adaptation arrives

Ahead of the film’s premiere this Halloween season, Netflix has debuted the first official trailer for Mr. Harrigan’s phone, the latest Stephen King adaptation from the streamer. John Lee Hancock wrote and directed the new film, based on King’s short story from If it bleeds collection, which stars Jaeden Martell THAT fame on the side Invasion of the Body Snatchers‘ star Donald Sutherland. Mr. Harrigan’s phone will debut on Netflix on October 5th, arriving alongside a number of other shows designed for subscribers to dig into the spooky season. Check it out in the player below!

Stephen King, ever present to tweet his thoughts on movies and shows (though rarely one to call out a bad adaptation), previously had high praise for an early clip he saw of the film, tweeting this summer : “I’ve seen a finish-to-finish 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.” Mr. Harrigan’s phone was produced by Blumhouse and Ryan Murphy. The film joins a number of other King adaptations on Netflix, including Gerald’s game (directed by Mike Flanagan), 1922 (directed by Zak Hilditch), and In the tall grass (directed by Vincenzo Natali).

Mr. Harrigan’s phone is described as follows by Netflix: “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 dies, Craig discovers that not all 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, showing that certain connections are never lost.”

Mr. Harrigan’s phone also stars Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Joe Tippett, Cyrus Arnold, Colin O’Brien, Thomas Francis Murphy and Peggy J. Scott.

Unlike other Stephen King books, where their rights are deducted for adaptation as one, If it bleeds had the rights to all four of its stories split between multiple parties, though Netflix will be home to three of them. In addition to Mr. Harrigan’s phone, the “Rat” story has been picked up by Ben Stiller, who will apparently produce, direct and star; and “The Life Of Chuck” has been picked up by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa, which is currently only attached to produce the adaptation. The titular “If It Bleeds” story apparently hasn’t been picked up by a production company yet.