The Telephone Box (1972)

Absolutely Brilliant!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Firstly, I want to say this movie is amazing. In the beginning it is kind of a black comedy, in the end everybody can feel the anxiety and the fear. We can watch this movie in two ways. First, as an absurd horror movie about a man who got stuck in a telephone box. If we watch this film this way, probably we all will love it. Because the director is so successful at telling stories in cinematic way. Second, as a surreal film which has some thoughts and some allegory about politics. Locally some thoughts about Franco regime, generally some thoughts about totalitarian ideologies. Cencorship, politic slaughters, unconcern of society etc. Think about it. Could we hear our main character's voice when he got stuck in the telephone box. A main character who has not any right to talk. What a despotic film! What a censorship! We all can see the unconcern of society during the movie, except the circus guys and the dwarf. They were exiled from the society. They were funny, they were freak, they were miserable. But while the society were laughing to our character, the "freaks" were not laughing. Actually they felt sorry for him. Because they were unwelcome people for their society and their despotic regime. They were the rebels against the despotism who had no power to fight. This movie is a masterpiece in two ways as stated above. But do not watch it like a horror movie. It would be insulting this masterpiece.

Beautifully framed bright red phone booth in the middle of an open square, framed by trees. Kids play around it, nuns walk past it, and a businessman in a screamingly loud necktie curiously gets stuck in it, after trying (and failing) to use it. Stuck in this bright red phone box, in the middle of an open square, framed by the trees, like a goldfish being watched by a cat.Filmed in a wide angle lens(?) giving distortion and aerial perspective to the phone box, its lines perfectly corresponding to the lines of an apartment building behind it.Crowd soon gathers, some try to help him, to no avail. Even a strongman, bashing it with his massive shoulders, cannot free the guy, or even shatter the glass.Convenient handyman proves to be not very handy at all. Fire department eventually shows up, before those responsible for installing the phone box return for it, put it on the back of a truck and drive off with it- and with the guy still trapped inside.He is driven past another bald businessman in a screamingly loud necktie stuck in another identical phone box, also unable to free himself. Driven through burnt out industrial areas and scrap metal yards - and past a midget holding a ship in a bottle. He's even followed by a low flying helicopter, who refuses to (or is unable to) help him.Interesting geometrical shapes framing the phone box prison throughout, film seems like a slightly overlong episode of The Twilight Zone.

Any horror film should not attempt to be a perfect "Evil Dead" clone in order to create fear in hearts and minds of its viewers. This unconventional view takes into account the fact that true horror consists of something grotesque which is capable of instilling an element of fear. It does not need to be a blood Slasher genre film to be classified in the horror's hall of fame. If seen from this perspective, Spanish short film 'The Phone Box' can be considered as a quintessential horror film which continues to remain miles ahead of mainstream horror films which merely take into account viewers' ability to get easily frightened. It must also be noted that in the realm of short film, it is fairly common for screenwriters to take an elementary idea in order to blow it further for achieving great results. What is worth noticing is that seldom do short films achieve such a kind of celebrity status as achieved by "La Cabina". As a scathing attack on selfish attitudes of people, Mercero and Garci have launched a brutal attack on ordinary people for whom a common man's suffering is merely another form of "Spectacle". Those who can read between the lines would not fail to discern how subtly the political situation in Spain of olden times was criticized. It was a time when common citizens got trapped into situations wherein their individual freedom was severely curtailed as depicted in this film. This film deliberately chose not to have a happy end as daily life's simple events can lead to complicated situations. It is hoped that viewers would take it in account while watching the film's protagonist who did not notice how and when his silent composure in the time of distress got transformed into a feeling of genuine disappointment and acute hopelessness.

What an incredible film.The way your frustration and anxiety build along with the main character is extremely clever as you realise how wound up you are is only a tiny fraction of what he's feeling. I confess that watching it in four parts on YouTube I felt compelled to skip bits as I was so curious to find out the ending and I could also feel myself becoming genuinely physically agitated - which as a sufferer of high blood pressure is not good. A horror film so good it should come with a health warning - you really can't say better than that.Evoking genuine empathy for someone else's terror is, I now realise, a very hard thing to do. Modern horror confuses making people nervous or making people jump with making people scared... this is genuinely terrifying.The political undertones not lost on me either but less interesting.