The Telephone Box(1972)
1972 · Antonio Mercero · 35 min
A man gets trapped inside a telephone box and nobody is able to free him.
Drama · Horror
7.3150 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
0/5
Gore
5/5
Stays with you
How The Telephone Box scares
It starts small and ordinary, a man stepping into a phone booth on a busy street, and then just keeps stretching that single moment out longer and longer until it becomes unbearable. Nothing loud or violent happens; the fear comes from watching an everyday situation quietly refuse to resolve while a crowd gathers and shrugs. There are no monsters and no blood, just a mounting, airless sense that something is deeply wrong with how casually everyone is responding. It's a quiet gut-punch of a short film that sits with you long after it ends, more unsettling than thrilling.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, The Telephone Box rates psychological 5/5, visceral 2/5, gore 0/5, lingering effect 5/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 5 of 5
- Visceral: 2 of 5
- Gore: 0 of 5
- Lingering: 5 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 8 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 85 of 100 — leans Real-world
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 80 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, absurd build from ordinary annoyance into mounting claustrophobic dread that tightens steadily until a disturbing final stretch.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5.
How scary is The Telephone Box?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, The Telephone Box rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. The fear is mostly in your head — it unsettles far more than it assaults. Expect it to be restrained with gore and genuinely disturbing. Expect it to stay with you for days.
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