DVD review: 'Phone booth' is one of the best psychological thrillers

Title: Phone Booth
Language: English
Director: Joel Schumacher
Rating: ****

This is one of the best psychological thrillers that you have see. The way the film ‘moves’, you feel that the whole thing is happening right in front of your eyes. There’s something that is very unique about this film which puts it in the “rare” category — the entire film is in real time. This means that every incident happens on the screen is consecutive and if you put yourself as a bystander to the ‘phone booth’, the incidents will happen exactly the way you would see it.

Yes, you got it right! All the incidents happen in one phone booth of New York City — there is no change in the setting. Yet, the film is one of the ‘fastest’ films you have seen so far. The tight editing and split screens add the drama and carries the film forward at break neck jet speed.

The hero of the film is Stu Shepherd (Colin Farell) who is one of the busiest publicists in New York. He is capable of quickly solving any problem of his celebrity clients and is a hot-stepper in the PR world.

But all of this was fine till he entered a phone booth to make a call. Stu takes off his wedding ring and calls his mistress (Katie Holmes). He tells her that he wants to see her and after some usual tittle-tattle he hangs up and the phone rings. The movie begins!

At first, the man on the other end seems to be a mad man who has suddenly gotten hold of a phone number. But very soon you realise that he has got a gun too! Stu tries to hang up numerous times but every time he is threatened that he’s going to die if he hangs up. Telling you more about the plot is like giving you the whole story but  you should not take any breaks, otherwise don’t forget to hit the pause button!