"La cabina" is a Spanish 1972 short film that runs for 35 minutes. It was made for television and the writer and director here is Antonio Mercero. He made a really nice job and succeeded very much in making this a truly atmospheric watch. However, the real heart and soul of this film is José Luis López Vázquez, the lead actor. It's probably my favorite performance of all time in a short film. He does do much with so little and it's all a silent performance as we, the audience, are outside with everybody else and we do not hear what is going on inside.I believe this film is an absolute must-watch for horror film fans, especially if you like claustrophobic movies, such as "Buried". The hilarious thing is that "La cabina" takes place for half of the film in a really crowded place and even in the second half there are always the truck drivers nearby, even if they are part of a plot as well. The isolation element which is so common in horror films is there nonetheless as he is completely alone in the booth. Yes, he sees another man who is in the same situation like him, but still. He cant really interact with that one.Another thing I liked about this film is that you may even find very dark humor occasionally, like when they drive by the cemetery. And there is definitely more to this movie than the horror elements. Pay attention to how all the people in the booths wear expensive clothing. Certainly not a coincidence and it's for you to decide what this means. To elaborate on that, very early on, the main character is in a part of the city where mostly poorer people live, people with whom he would really want contact with. And the moment he steps into that booth, the contact is gone. Yet they still watch him as if he was some animal in a cage that does not belong there. Another reference to the difference in social standing. They even call him a "poor guy". The irony of that is priceless.This was already the third time I watched this film and I discover something new every time still. I believe they first time I saw it there would be some kind of rescue for him in the end, but now I knew better. Yet that moment when he is on the truck and seemingly smiles having made peace with the people around him, I still felt this could have been a situation where the door may have opened. If there was any moment, it was this one. An outstanding short film. Highly recommended and you can watch this without being able to speak and understand Spanish as the dialogue is minimal.

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.

Horror is often associated with Gothic imagery . Think of how many classic horror films have thunder storms sweeping over bleak desolate moorland and there in the middle of the frame lies a foreboding castle . But often banal everyday objects can be used for instruments of horror . Classic DOCTOR WHO was very good at this and one of my earliest memories was watching the story Terror Of The Autons where a child's doll came alive and tried to attack the Doctor's companion Jo Grant. The Pertwee era was full of this type of imagery where the banal suddenly became dangerous . It continues today and 35 years from now middle aged people will say they are instinctively frightened to look away from statues LA CABINA follows this type of trend . Spain has a rich history of morbid cinema and perhaps this 1972 horror short is the closest the country came to having an equivalent of DOCTOR WHO . Everyone knows what a phone box is and before everyone had a mobile phone we all used a public phone box which were dotted around cities , towns and villages. No one gave them much thought and after seeing this LA CABINA you'll never look at a phone box in the same way again as the story starts off in a everyday manner and becomes more and more terrifying as an unnamed man finds himself trapped in one Earlier tonight I saw a documentary by Mark Gatiss where he stated Spainish horror didn't confront its fascist past until Guillermo Del Toroarrived on the scene but I disagree . You don't have to read between the lines very much to realise LA CABINA is a statement on fascism . The trapped man could be a marrano converso or a leftist or any other undesirable living in a fascist regime . It's interesting too that the man's fate takes place for the most part in public and one wonders what excuses would be offered by the witnesses ? " I didn't hear anything , I didn't see anything , I didn't know what was going on " . It's also co-written by Jose Luis Garci whose later work often used the transition from Francoism to democracy as a theme That said if anyone watched this as I did on Channel 4 sometime in the late 1980s the political subtext would be quickly forgotten by the audience but the gloomy ,doom laden ending wouldn't . I'd even forgotten what the title and I'm glad I've found out " The Spanish film about the man trapped in the telephone box " is called LA CABINA