Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco's Spain Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco's Spain Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 13, 2026

Severin's release of Tales to Keep You Awake: The Complete Series may have helped to spark interest in Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, and part of that series, the 1974 special El televisor, is included as the second offering in this double feature of sorts which also includes the shorter La cabina directed by Antonio Mercero. Both television productions are framed here as "political" statements made against the latter years of the Franco regime in Spain.

The Two Boxes of the title cheekily refer to, first, a phone booth (remember pay phones?) in La cabina, and then a boob tube in El televisor, with the subject properties more or less taking characters prisoner in each offering. In that regard it's arguable La cabina is decidedly more concise and perhaps therefore more visceral, despite what amounts to the anti-Fascist equivalent of Grand Guignol in the climax. There's an almost Buñuel-esque feeling to this short where a man trapped in a phone booth becomes something of a carnival attraction before things turn considerably darker. El televisor has a longer running time, which allows for more ostensible development, but arguably ends up making more or less the same point about governmental control, whether that be physical, mental or spiritual. In this case a man's purchase of a seeming symbol of "success", a television, ends up being his downfall as he takes being a couch potato to what might be called pathological extremes.

Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco's Spain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots 1 through 5 are from La cabina. Screenshots 6 through 9 are from El televisor.

Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco's Spain is presented on Blu-ray by Radiance Films' Tranmission imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Radiance sent a check disc for purposes of this review and so I'm not privy to any verbiage in an insert booklet, and their website only offers relatively generic "world Blu-ray premiere of La cabina" and "high definition digital transfer of El televisor" as technical data points. In that regard, La cabina definitely shows less damage than El televisor, which as recurrent vertical scratches running from the top to the bottom of the frame, often in parallel abundance, as can probably be made out in some of the screenshots. El cabina offers a really robust palette and typically excellent detail levels. El televisor is more variable both in terms of color temperature and clarity. The above score is an average.

Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco's Spain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco's Spain offer LPCM Mono audio in the original Spanish. La cabina probably is comprised more of the increasingly insane sounds around the booth once the main character gets trapped than any traditional "dialogue", but all of the background clamor and dialogue is offered cleanly and clearly. El televisor has a more baroque sound design, especially in the opening which offers a montage of sorts of supposed "broadcasts" over the airwaves. As with the video side of things, audio may not fare as well here, either, as with La cabina. This track shows a bit more damage, with a somewhat boxy sound that has slight distortion. Optional English subtitles are available.

Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco's Spain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries

Audio Commentary on La cabina by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton




Audio Commentary on El televisor by Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons

• Antonio Lazaro-Reboll (HD; 37:34) is a 2026 interview offering some context about El televisor and Serrado.


• Jose Luis Garci (HD; 18:19) is an archival interview with the co-writer of La cabina. Subtitled in English.


• Antonio Mercero Santos (HD; 13:06) is an archival piece featuring the son of La cabina's director visiting the site where the phone box was placed. Subtitled in English.


• El televisor 1999 Press Conference (HD; 6:47) features Serrador. Subtitled in English.

Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco's Spain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is an interesting double feature that may have as much interest for its supplements as with its main offerings. La cabina sports overall better technical merits than El televisor. With caveats noted and especially for those with an interest in this era of Spanish anti-Franco sentiment, Recommended.