12 Movies Like Mr. Harrigan's Phone You Should See Next

This post contains minor spoilers for "Mr. Harrigan's Phone."

In recent years, Stephen King's name has popped up in the film industry as regularly as ever. Studios are obsessively mining through the master of horror's immense amount of novels, short stories, and novellas — both new and old — just to find another seed for a film or television show adaptation that could become the next big thing. They dig up third- and fourth-tier stories, hoping to discover another filmable treasure that has the chance to turn into a lucrative franchise. Though it's not an impossible task, the doomed and failed adaptations of King's work are definitely more common than a success like "It" was in 2017.

Netflix's latest try with "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" (a short story lifted from King's anthology book, "If It Bleeds") unfortunately fits more into the forgettable adaptations. It's not the kind of story destined to be told on the small screen, regardless of how many big names are attached to it. And there are a few: Jaeden Martell plays teenager Craig, who lives with his father in a small town in Maine. The teen befriends a local millionaire, Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland), who hires the young boy to read for him since his sight is declining. The two develop a heartfelt friendship with each other until the old man passes away. But even from beyond the grave, Mr. Harrigan doesn't stop talking to the kid through the phone he gifted him when he was alive.

John Lee Hancock's movie is more of a coming-of-age drama with modern themes than a spooky, blood-soaked horror with well-timed scares. Here, we gathered 12 other examples that are just as good (or even better) at combining these elements.

Perhaps not as often mentioned when it comes to successful Stephen King adaptations, but Mary Lambert's 1989 "Pet Sematary" is among the better ones. It may not be as big of a classic as "The Shining" or "Carrie," but the story about an ancient burial ground that can revive the dead is right up there.

Like "Mr. Harrigan's Phone," the plot takes place in Maine, where the Creed family moves from Chicago after the patriarch, Louis (Dale Midkiff), accepts a job at the local university. Once their pet, Church, gets killed by a truck, their friendly neighbor, Jud (Fred Gwynne), takes Louis to the cursed burial ground behind their house to show him how he can bring the cat back to life. Although the "magic" works, Church is never the same as was before — it acts as if it's possessed by the devil. Later, when tragedy strikes again, the family's only son, Gage (Miko Hughes), gets killed the same way. Devastated by the loss, Louis decides to bury him in the same cemetery despite Jud's warnings. It doesn't take him long to realize what a terrible mistake he's done — for which his family will pay the price.

Although "Pet Sematary" wasn't exactly well-received by critics at the time of its release, it has become a box office success and gained a cult status among horror fans over time.

While the connection between "Doctor Sleep" and "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" might be marginal on the surface, we couldn't leave it out of this list for a reason. Mike Flanagan is among those rare filmmakers who religiously care about source materials (he's also a massive King fan), which couldn't be more evident when it comes to this horror. With "Doctor Sleep," the director had a difficult task to get the story right but lived up to the expectations amazingly — even if the movie's box office was considered a disappointment for not fulfilling a perhaps bigger potential. Yet, as far as getting the writing, tone, and characters right on the big screen, Flanagan proved again that he's the perfect director to adapt King's most iconic stories.

"Doctor Sleep" is the sequel to King's legendary 1977 novel "The Shining," and it's set several decades after the events of the Overlook Hotel, where Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) was only a little boy. Now, he's all grown up — although still haunted by his family's past — and has learned to suppress his gift by drinking heavily. After moving to a New Hampshire town, though, Torrance beats his addiction with the help of an Alcoholic Anonymous group and becomes a health care professional. He's helping elderly patients to face their coming death. However, soon he realizes that he'll need to make use of his power again as there's a cult of psychics (True Knot) who target people like him to extend their own lives by killing them.

Arguably, "Doctor Sleep" is one of the best Stephen King adaptations out there. If you're craving something more after watching "Mr. Harrison's Phone," you can't go wrong with it.

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Although Tod William's 2016 "Cell" is far from a decent Stephen King adaptation, we have to include it here for its similarities with "Mr. Harrigan's Phone." King's love for technology is evident in this horror, which follows Clay Riddell (John Cusack) and other survivors after an electronic signal (broadcast by major phone networks) turns people into zombie-like creatures. As apocalyptic chaos ensues, Riddell teams up with train conductor Tom McCourt (Samuel L. Jackson). After escaping the tunnels, the two decide to leave Boston in search of Riddell's son and ex-wife in New England.

Unfortunately, the movie is as cliché and typical as it sounds, and even the two leads couldn't save it from a total disaster. Critics hated it deeply, and audiences weren't impressed by it either. Hence we can't recommend the film to absolutely everyone, but if you're feeling brave and hungry for another cell-based story by King, give it a buzz.

When we talk about the idea of a person making contact from the past through a device such as a phone or radio, we have to mention the film that did it perhaps the most memorably: Gregory Hoblit's 2000 sci-fi "Frequency" attempted to do the impossible and defeat time in a story that battles paradoxes, inconsistencies, and a son's desire to get to know his father, who died 30 years ago when he was only six years old.

The plot follows Frank (Dennis Quaid) and John (Jim Caviezel) Sullivan, father and son, who, with the help of an old ham radio, are able to communicate with each other while being in 1969 and 1999. Due to this magical phenomenon, the two attempt to change the past in various ways, which also means they have to deal with the consequences the changes cause in the future.

Thanks to a smartly written script by Toby Emmerich, Hoblit's drama is a rare triumph that uses time travel in a profound and emotionally satisfying way without making it feel too implausible. No surprise that "Frequency" was a critical and commercial success and became a beloved favorite for many cinephiles over the years. If you're seeking similar movies plot-wise to "Mr. Harrigan's Phone," this one simply has to be on your list.

Before Mike Flanagan became the acclaimed horror director we know him today, he made some decent, if somewhat forgettable, exercises in the genre he loves so much. "Ouija: Origin of Evil" — which is a prequel to Stiles White's unremarkable 2014 "Ouija" — might not be among his best work, but if you're up for a comparable yet a lot scarier story than "Mr. Harrigan's Phone," it may be right up your alley.

The plot follows widow Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) and her daughters, Lina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson), in 1967 in Los Angeles. She tries to keep a roof over their heads by operating as a scammy psychic out of their suburban home. She's trying to spike up the business by adding an Ouija board to her usual rituals. But she quickly finds herself in dangerous territory when an evil spirit answers through the board and possesses her younger daughter, Doris. Scarred and desperate, Lina turns to Father Tom (Henry Thomas), Doris's school principal, who tells her that they most likely woke a mean spirit with nothing but bad intentions who plans on acting on them through Doris.

Thanks to Flanagan's inherent talent, "Ouija: Origin of Evil" has become a box office success and received mostly positive reviews from critics after its release.

Kim Bong-Joo's 2015 South Korean action thriller, "The Phone" approaches the central idea of "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" from a scientific and sensational perspective. The plot follows a grieving husband, Ko Dong-ho (Son Hyeon-ju), who, thanks to a magnetic field's anomaly, can talk to his wife in the past before she was murdered in an unfortunate robbery. The question is, knowing what he knows now, a year after the incident, will he be able to finally catch the man responsible for his wife's murder and prevent her from dying in only a day's time?

Although Bong-Joo's feature debut might rely a little too heavily on the viewer's suspension of disbelief, thanks to its suspenseful atmosphere and rapid pace throughout the nearly two-hour runtime, it manages to become a gripping and breathless thriller overall. The performances from an outstanding cast also help to forget some of the gaping and questionable plot holes that occasionally pop up in the story's grand mystery. If you want something more exciting and dynamic than Netflix's teen horror, "The Phone" might just be what you need.