One early morning a short flatbed truck pulls up to a town square and four workmen get out. On the back of the truck is a red phone box. The workers take the box off the truck and bolt it the cement walkway in the middle of the square. The men leave the door to the phone box open and drive off.
Not long after that people begin going about their daily routine. One of the people is a man (Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez) walking his son to the bus stop before he heads off to work. The bus stop is near the telephone box. The man waves to his son and watches the school bus pull away. The man then steps into the box to make a phone call. As he is playing with the phone, the door to the box slowly closes. When the man realizes that the phone doesn’t work, he attempts to open the door to leave, however, the door will not open.
When people passing by realize that the man is stuck, a crowd begins to form. A couple men attempt to open the door but to no avail. Then a burly man tries to break down the door with his shoulder using brute strength but, again, the door does not move. Two more men try to pull open the door but only succeed in breaking off the door handle. No matter what they try, the door will not open.
Eventually the police and fire department arrive to assess the situation. They too cannot open the door. One of the firefighters decides to climb on top of the phone booth to try to break the glass top with an axe. Before he can strike, the flatbed truck returns. The men get out of the truck, unbolt the telephone box and put it back on the truck bed. They then get back into the truck and drive away with the man still in the phone booth. The crowd waves good-bye to the man. All the man can do is stay in the box and wait for whatever comes next.
“The Telephone Box” AKA “La Cabina” was released in 1972 and was directed by Antonio Mercero. It is a Spanish made for television horror short that has become a bit obscure.
There isn’t a lot to the film. The dialogue is minimal and not really necessary for understanding the action. It delivers its plot mostly in mime form and Jose Vazquez’s performance was phenomenal.
It brings into focus several phobias such as claustrophobia or scopophobia (fear of being stared at). It doesn’t prepare you for the real horror of the movie. When you watch the ending, you get the feeling that the point of the film has more to do with human obsolescence. At one point, when the man in the box is being transported, he sees another box with a younger man in it who is able to open the door and leave his box. At another point he passes another truck with another box on it that also contains a balding man. It makes me wonder if there is a hidden statement in the film about ageism.
It is a strange little movie but one that stays with you. The ending is quite disturbing but in a surreal way. There’s no violence but the imagery is stark and subtle at the same time. It is an interesting and thought provoking film.