This 35-minute long Spanish short movie from 1972 became a cult memory for many Brits, after it was shown on late-night TV in the early-80s...
Directed by Antonio Mercero, it has one of the most deliciously simple and unnerving plots of modern horror cinema…
On a hot summer's day, a man (José Luis López Vázquez) becomes trapped in an inoperable phone booth. The passers-by are unable to help him escape, with many enjoying the spectacle and social embarrassment unfolding. The annoyance turns sinister when a phone company truck arrives and lifts the booth away, with the man still inside as an apparent prisoner! It transpires that the booth was in fact a "honey trap" and, for scarily unknown reasons, people are its prey…
Okay, it might not sound like much when you whittle it down to a few paragraphs, but for a low-budget film, it's a beautifully simple and memorable concept. La Cabina/The Telephone Box drips with a weird, dreamlike, slow-burning panic -- as events build to a truly, terrifying climax.
The musical score also does a superb job of giving voice to this man's escalating panic. The fact it's a foreign film only adds a strange ambiance for non-Spanish audiences, and the film justly won an Emmy Award back in '72.
La Cabina is a modern gem. A cult classic, if ever there was one. Even after 30 years, its simple idea and constantly tightening sense of peril is a joy to behold. It's the best Twilight Zone episode they never did.
And, thanks to the wonders of the internet, the entire film is available on YouTube (cut into four parts; see links below). This may not be the desired way to see La Cabina, but you're unlikely to see it on TV or DVD anytime soon, so it'll have to do...
But, however you see it: once seen, never forgotten…
LinksLa Cabina
Chaotic Cinema - La Cabina
Download
La Cabina: Part 1
La Cabina: Part 2
La Cabina: Part 3
La Cabina: Part 4
