I first watched this short film on television many years ago and have not forgotten the ending since then. Having just watched it for a second time it had lost none of its impact.
The film opens with workmen installing a new orange phone box to a town square. Soon after a man and his son walk past, once the boy has caught the bus the man enters the box to make a phone call. As he picks up the receiver the door slowly closes. The man is rather irritated when it turns out that the phone does not work, this is nothing however compared to how he feels when he can't open the door. Various passers by try to help him including children, the local strong-man, a workman, the police and finally the fire brigade. None however can open the door or even break the glass. Eventually the workman who installed the box return but instead of freeing the trapped man they take the box away on the back of a lorry. As they drive along they pass another lorry with a telephone box on and it too has a man trapped inside. Eventually the lorry enters a facility built into a mountain and the man is horrified to find himself in a large room full of identical phone boxes, each containing a dead body. The film ends with the workmen installing a new phone box in the square, leaving the door open ready to trap its next victim.
This film shows that it is possible to make for horror to be genuinely disturbing without any violence or gore. No explanation for the events is given or even hinted at, neither is there any indication that the man is anything other than the first person to enter the new box, giving the viewer the feeling that if it could happen to him it could happen to anybody. Although the film is in Spanish it is possible for anybody to enjoy it as there isn't much dialogue and it is easy to get the gist of what is being said anyway. If you want to see something creepy I'd recommend watching this, just be warned you won't want to use a phone box for quite a while afterwards.
The film opens with workmen installing a new orange phone box to a town square. Soon after a man and his son walk past, once the boy has caught the bus the man enters the box to make a phone call. As he picks up the receiver the door slowly closes. The man is rather irritated when it turns out that the phone does not work, this is nothing however compared to how he feels when he can't open the door. Various passers by try to help him including children, the local strong-man, a workman, the police and finally the fire brigade. None however can open the door or even break the glass. Eventually the workman who installed the box return but instead of freeing the trapped man they take the box away on the back of a lorry. As they drive along they pass another lorry with a telephone box on and it too has a man trapped inside. Eventually the lorry enters a facility built into a mountain and the man is horrified to find himself in a large room full of identical phone boxes, each containing a dead body. The film ends with the workmen installing a new phone box in the square, leaving the door open ready to trap its next victim.
This film shows that it is possible to make for horror to be genuinely disturbing without any violence or gore. No explanation for the events is given or even hinted at, neither is there any indication that the man is anything other than the first person to enter the new box, giving the viewer the feeling that if it could happen to him it could happen to anybody. Although the film is in Spanish it is possible for anybody to enjoy it as there isn't much dialogue and it is easy to get the gist of what is being said anyway. If you want to see something creepy I'd recommend watching this, just be warned you won't want to use a phone box for quite a while afterwards.