Las brujas de Zugarramurdi

This is not Spanish director Alex De La Iglesia's best effort (my personal favorite is Ferpect Crime), but is entertaining and watchable, if you like his brand of anarchic, corrosive, politically incorrect and pitch black humor. Here three misogynistic thieves on the run, trying to flee to France after a botched burglary in Madrid, end up in a little Basque village called Zugarramurdi (a place in which there was a real witch trial in the 17th century) where they are captured by a coven of feminist witches (the leader of which is Almodovar regular Carmen Maura) who subject them to a number of torments. Many more outrageous things happen, but they are not for me to reveal. A couple of very beautiful actresses (Carolina Bang and Macarena Gomez) help the film.

While I did like Angelina Jolie in Maleficent, there is a witch right here, that I'd die for. All puns and jokes aside though: This is a comedy and it does start with a Bang (not Carolina, a literally one) and does not stop from there. It works because it is funny, but in an adult kind of way. No joke or poking fun is too low to go there (and while I'm not a fan of "toilet humor", there is one here, that I think is really good and nicely shot).

It is predictable obviously, but the actors make the whole thing work and you will have "sacrifices" that have to be made (no pun intended), for the inevitable outcome. The effects are really good and while you might argue about characters and their moods, this all get "explained" ... at least in a fashion, that is sufficient enough for a comedy

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 .

I thought this movie was great. It starts off very normal with a quite funny movie and slightly zany humour. This then slowly builds into an over the top, hilariously funny romp which also manages to bury a few home truths in amongst the jokes and craziness.

Very surreal its technically a horror movie but more realistically I would say it was comedy with a few horror elements.

I honestly hope more people see this, I think its a shame its not better known and currently not as highly rated as I at least believe it should be. At the very least I think its worth a look if you are intrigued.

Years ago I saw Alex de la Iglesia's film, Accion Mutante, and I really liked it, despite the poverty-row budget. It had interesting, though unsympathetic characters, whose antics were fun to watch and an amazing artificial world full of surprises.

Witching & Bitching is an absolutely terrible title for a movie. I blame de la Iglesia's unfamiliarity with English. In any case, it is clear from the start that Mr. de la Iglesia's style in this film is the same as Accion Mutante. He has his signature whacked-out, borderline insane, outside-the-law bunglers, alongside seemingly minor characters that turn into major pillars of the plot line. He has his lame running jokes that rarely work, but are somehow comforting nonetheless, and, just like Accion Mutante, the movie has enough plot twists for three or four more conventional films.

Accion Mutante kept you surprised every minute. Witching & Bitching (man, I HATE that name) can't do quite as well, because the title, as well as the title screens both give away the fact that, at some point in the film, witches figure prominently. I was thrilled by the fact that the film managed to mingle fairy-tale witches with earth-goddess shenanigans.

Some of the scenes were spectacular. Many directors, when they get money, don't seem to know how to spend it to get the best results. But de la Iglesia sure did. You got to see every penny on the screen, and as a result, this movie was, in my opinion, superior to my beloved Accion Mutante.

I love the way that his films attack both the status quo as WELL as the revolution. He subverts the subversives. His witches are (obviously) aggressively feminist, but it is clear that if they controlled more of society, the world would not be a better place.

If you've not seen Accion Mutante (which probably most people haven't), then perhaps the closest "type" of movie to Witching & Bitching would be something by Terry Gilliam, or perhaps City of Lost Children. If you like that kind of anarchic, fantasy semi-comedy, this might be for you.