7/10
Devilishly funny terror-black comedy about some thieves become involved into incredible and frightening adventures
17 May 2014
This is a full-on surreal terror movie that blends thrills , a lot of fun , suspense , tension as well as an intriguing script full of underlying seriousness , horror , comedy and embarrassing situations . This Spanish horror/comedy is Alex De la Iglesia's latest foray into absolute and total lunacy , being titled ¨Witching and Bitching¨ or ¨Las Brujas De Zugarramurdi¨ . The flick centers on a band of thieves trying to flee to France after purloining 25,000 gold rings from a Spanish city . When a bank heist in the city doesn't all go according to plan, José (Hugo Silva) and Tony (Mario Casas) find themselves in possession of some hostages (Manuel Tafalle , Jaime Ordoñez) and speeding through the mountains of Spain . As the gang of escaping jewellery theft get trapped by a coven of witches . A curse is placed on them , and they fall into the clutches of the witches (Carmen Maura , Terele Pavez and Carolina Bang , partner to Alex De Iglesia and his fetish actress) of the Navarrese little town of Zugarramurdi . Meanwhile , the thieves have been pursued by a botcher couple of polices (Secun De La Rosa and Pepon Nieto) . The village of Zugarramurdi has been cursed and it is up to an elected to remove this affliction . The townsfolk need his blood and his sacrifice in order to remove the curse .

Alex De la Iglesia's horror comedy Witching & Bitching blends horror elements with humor , tongue-in-cheek and thrills ; so, the tone of the film is light-hearted . It's a veritable buffet of the cream of recent Spanish horror plenty of action , laughs , scares and witches attacks . Packed with scenes of fantastic nature , robust comedy , this story is exciting as well as frightening , as we follow the strange situations of some peculiar thieves whose destination is dictated by terrible events . The narration is so filled with quirk characters , crazy violence mixed with diabolic elements and an underlying sense of horror , and it is so excessive and plenty of surprises , one can't help but keep watching , much as it is over the top in many an occasion . Witches aren't an easy cult for horror buffs to fall in love with, despite being a prolific symbol for screams , but Alex thrives where most falter . De La Iglesia reigns in his style this time around and gives an utterly watchable takedown of horror/comedy that certainly delivers a few madly inspired moments . Once again De la Iglesia exemplifies why he's one of the most amusing Spanish filmmakers currently churning out foreign cinema , adopting frenetic storytelling much like Quentin Tarantino , Brian Singer , Robert Rodriguez or Matthew Vaughn might dream up . Enjoyable main cast and agreeable support actors deliver one of the most engaging , hysterical, action packed and wonderfully shot witchery movie in years . Witching's ensemble cast boasts some of Spain's biggest film and TV stars, such as Mario Casas (I Want You) , Hugo Silva (Sex, Parties and Lies , The body ), and Carmen Maura , who earned a Best Actress award at San Sebastian in 2000 for her role in La Comunidad . Further cast members are Terele Pavez, Carolina Bang , Secun de la Rosa, Pepon Nieto, Jaime Ordonez , Macarena Gomez , Enrique Villen , Carlos Areces and Santiago Segura ; most of them Alex De Iglesia's ordinaries . This Spanish horror-comedy ¨Brujas of Zugarramurdi¨ was much praised by critics as well as public during its European festival run . Being a big winner with eight statues Goyas was this Alex De la Iglesia's comedy Witching and Bitching which dominated the technical categories .

The motion picture was well directed by De La Iglesia , well known as the Spanish king of black comedy . He's a cool director has got much success as ¨Accion Mutante¨ ,¨Dying of laughter¨ or ¨Muertos De Risa¨ , ¨Baby's room¨ , ¨Oxford murders¨ , ¨Balada Triste De Una Trompeta¨ and ¨Perdita Durango¨ is probably the weirdest Javier Bardem film ever made . And , of course , ¨Day of the beast¨ and ¨La Comunidad¨ obtained the unanimous praise of both the critics and the public and result to be a lot of fun¨, especially for those who enjoy surrealist humor , they won several Goya prizes and and resulted to be a turning point in his meteoric career ; from then on he became his own producer, beginning with '800 bullets' (2002) through the Pánico Films company . Winner of several Goyas (Spanish Oscars), however his movies have not yet reached box office in USA, but he has strong followers , as his films have a kind of comic edge to them . Nonsense, ridicule , laughters , absurdity , disturbing scenes and many other issues ; you can find everything in this flick . ¨Las Brujas De Zugarramurdi¨ captures the essence of the best Alex De La Iglesia, a filmmaker who, at this point in his own story, is respected and admired worldwide and has the most committed fans in the film universe . This is without a doubt a thrilling and enjoyable movie to be enjoyed for terror/comedy fans and Alex De Iglesia fans .
37 out of 48 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed