La cabina

I share a similar experience to many of the other posters regarding this short movie.

Late at night, over twenty years ago, flipping channels. I'm not a big fan of foreign language films but sometimes a rare gem comes along that never leaves you.

Despite having no real dialogue, you understand everything that is happening and you can follow the story from it's innocent beginnings to it's dark ending.

I have largely forgotten many of the details of this film, but it is the overall effect that stays with you long after the movie has finished.

I think the phone box was originally in a plaza and I remember the lorry ride with the hapless man on display in the over-sized 'fish bowl' for all to see.

One of those gems that rarely gets shown again. Definitely a contender for BBC FOUR to broadcast. Especially given it's short running time and provoking nature.

I think I'll email them!

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

A man walks with his child and then he gets trapped at a phone booth while some outlookers attempt unsuccessfully to free him. After that , some operatives from the telephone company have in store for him by transporting on a truck throughout Madrid capital, along the way he is taunted and mocked by the people who observe him. Later on, the imprisoned person suffering puzzlement and horror as he arrives in a large facilty where he discovers extraordinary surprises until a creepy finale.

Splendid and succint Short with a great acting by Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez. This is an astonishing, shocking, and amazing film, almost surrealist, containing some weird images and eerie happenings. It is sad as well as poetic when some some clowns watching pitily the desperado protagonist. It packs interesting, twisted and bizarre script from the prestigious Jose Luis Garci and Mercero himself. There stands out the awesome acting from Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez who gives a terrific role. And including various brief appearances by notorious Spanish secondaries as Agustin Gonzalez, Goyo Lebrero, Maria Vico , Blaki and Tito Garcia.

It provides an evocative and atmospheric cinematography by Federico G Larraya, who photographed For a fustful of dollars by Sergio Leone. As well as frightening and thrilling musical score, addiing religious chores. Well produced by Jose Salcedo and nicely directed by recently deceased Antonio Mercero who made several TV Series as Cronicas de un pueblo, Ese señor de negro, Turno de Oficio, Manolito Gafotas and films as Las delicias de los verdes años, Don Juan mi querido fantasma, Esperame en el cielo, Planta 4, Hora de los valientes, El tesoro, Y tu quien eres, being his greatests hits , La guerra de papa, Toby and the Series Verano Azul with Antonio Ferrandis as the unforgettable Chanquete. Rating 8/10 above average.

I saw this movie in the early 1980s, possibly as a matinee before Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, and it made such a deep impression on me that i paid no attention to the main feature! It starts off quite simply with our hero becoming stuck in the telephone box [La Cabina] and develops through his efforts to free himself with the assistance of onlookers who are initially amused,then concerned and finally bored to the point where they ignore his plight.Shades of Candid Camera i thought,but nothing prepared me for the terrifying finale when he learns his fate.Like "The Haunting"[1963] this film work on a deeper psychological level,playing on our fear of being in situations we cannot control and the ending seems all too plausible. Not one for the kids, but an easy 10/10

La Cabino is a film constructed on simplicity and brilliance. The story about a man trapped inside a public phone-booth starts off as a comedy and then gradually spirals into a surreal nightmare from which there seems no escape. This short film is rich in symbols and metaphors about loneliness and alienation in the urban landscape. How ironic that we have our main protagonist trapped, like a fly inside a glass jar, he wants to communicate his terror but the telephone is out-of-order and we bear witness to his growing unease and dread. Human dialogue is kept to a bare minimum and it feels like a silent film with a dream-like quality which becomes claustrophobic.

This stark film has an atmosphere that sears the mind and emotions of viewers and the residue it leaves behind remains long after the film has finished. The haunting and creepy cinematography is suffused with suspense and unseen menace. Terror prowls about as we watch with dried mouths. A complete masterpiece of the genre that would have Hitchcock turning livid with envy.

Sadly, there is no DVD, Laser-Disc or VHS tape available of this magnificent example of the art of the short film. Over the years there have only been a handful of broadcasts on television and even those rare outings have been at unearthly hours. Someone like Martin Scorsese, Mark Kermode or Criterion should hunt down a print and issue this amazing film for us all to enjoy.

The way it looks at present, however, is that eventually it will join the ranks of lost legendary films of the past. It will only remain in the memories of the lucky few who first experienced this bleak drama back in the 1970's.