Four spooky films to get you into a Halloween spirit

This past week on streaming offered a quartet of spooky and suspenseful films to get folks into the Halloween spirit.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone

"Mr. Harrigan's Phone," released Oct. 5 on Netflix, has the ominous buildup of a monkey's paw undead revenge thriller, but ultimately resolves itself into a compelling, nuanced character study, told from the perspective of small-town New England adolescence.

Yes, it's based on the Stephen King novella of the same name, and it even stars Jaeden Martell from the 2017 and 2019 movie adaptations of King's "It," but the early 2000s nostalgia of "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" raises salient concerns about the credibility of online news coverage, as well as the addictive nature of both the internet and social media.

Throughout his childhood, Craig (Martell) reads old books to retired tycoon Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland), who ruthlessly ruined lives in his prime, but becomes a gruffly affectionate mentor to Craig, who uses a financial windfall to buy them matching smartphones.

When Mr. Harrigan dies, Craig places his phone in his pocket just before he's buried, but when Craig dials Mr. Harrigan to sound off after being bullied and experiencing other troubles, he's unsettled when Mr. Harrigan's phone seems to respond to his calls, especially when those whom Craig wishes ill are found dead shortly afterward.

This tale never tips its hand about whether its incidents are truly supernatural, but Martell and Sutherland's acting performances are so quietly powerful and emotionally moving that you'll barely care whether anything genuinely ghostly is going on, even when the cryptic texts that pop up on Craig's phone have you holding your breath.

Hellraiser

"Hellraiser," released Oct. 7 on Hulu, effectively reboots the franchise with its best entry since 1988's "Hellbound: Hellraiser II," serving up wildly inventive new Cenobite designs and a mythos-building expansion of LeMarchand puzzle box alternatives beyond the Lament Configuration.

As is typically the case in "Hellraiser" films, a wealthy, hedonistic sociopath kicks off the drama by getting in way over their head, in terms of "things human beings were never meant to experience," but they manage to drag a number of innocents along for their ride to literal Hell.

This time, the box is stolen as part of a warehouse heist by recovering addicts Riley (Odessa A'zion) and her boyfriend Trevor (Drew Starkey), both looking to make a score, although Trevor turns out to be keeping secrets.

Because one of the box's pop-out blades draws blood from Riley as she unlocks its next setting, the Cenobites - led by a new, female Pinhead (Jamie Clayton) - force her to choose between claiming her or another, who turns out to be her gay brother Matt (Brandon Flynn).

Riley's guilt over Matt, who'd supported her recovery, is compounded by the succession of others who are sacrificed in her stead, but she ultimately recognizes the futility of any bargain with the Cenobites to try and make things right, because their gifts always come with hooks.

Clayton makes a worthy successor to Doug Bradley as a chilling Pinhead, while Goran Višnjić fits the villainous mold of Sean Chapman and Andrew Robinson in the original film.

Significant Other

"Significant Other," released Oct. 7 on Paramount+, alludes to the by-now-memetic conceit of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" while embarking on a headlong dive into a neurotically dysfunctional romantic relationship, as we follow panic-prone commitment-phobe Ruth (Maika Monroe) and her passive-aggressive would-be fiancé Harry (Jake Lacy) on a camping trip into the same forest where we see a mysterious object fall from the sky.

Monroe has made herself a standout performer in the horror genre since her starring roles in "The Guest" and "It Follows" in 2014, and she's retained that same ethereal, haunted (and haunting) vulnerability through "Watcher" earlier this year, but "Significant Other" takes the subversive step of suggesting her wide-eyed, emotionally dissociated character might be predator rather than prey.

Lacy's off-puttingly affable Uncanny Valley persona complements Monroe's abundance of subtle beneath-the-surface work by ensuring a background static level of frisson between their characters, as his gentle gregariousness nonetheless conveys an edge of attempted control and manipulation, leaving the audience questioning whether he's a nice guy or a "Nice Guy."

Harry and Ruth feel like an authentic young couple, in ways that are uncomfortable to watch even before we begin to suspect one of them has been ... compromised.

The narrative takes more than one wide turn, yielding just enough plot twists to reward repeat viewings, but the most morbidly hilarious moments come from seeing how our emotions - and ultimately, the same mental health struggles that can cripple us so severely - can also be weaponized against others.

Werewolf by Night

"Werewolf by Night," released Oct. 7 on Disney+, is a festival of tributes to network television holiday specials, the classic Universal Studios monster movies and obscure Marvel Comics horror titles, with a deliberately antiquated black-and-white palette that, in a homage to "The Wizard of Oz," gives way to vivid Technicolor-style hues for its final scenes.

The funeral of Ulysses Bloodstone establishes an entire subculture of his fellow monster-hunters within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including his estranged daughter Elsa (Laura Donnelly, radiating a strikingly similar energy to Krysten Ritter in "Jessica Jones"), as well as Elsa's scornful stepmother Verussa (Harriet Sansom Harris, memorable guest-star of shows ranging from "The X-Files" to "Frasier," clearly having the time of her life chewing all the scenery on set).

Elsa isn't so hot on the aggressively posturing monster-hunters in attendance, so she befriends the initially mild-mannered Jack Russell (Gael García Bernal), a fellow funeral guest harboring more than one deadly secret, including his connection to the huge, grunting, yet surprisingly genteel beast identified onscreen only as "Ted" so far.

At the risk of revealing spoilers, I will predict that Ted's broader role in Marvel Comics continuity all but guarantees he's going to be essential to the MCU's emerging multiverse.

García Bernal manages to make Jack a sympathetic quasi-everyman in spite of his distinctively decorated face and ... sensitive condition, while Donnelly feels nearly as relatable as Jack, by virtue of her weary exasperation with her whole family's history of arcane and homicidal drama.

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
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