Las brujas de Zugarramurdi (2013) Reviews

• Devilishly funny terror-black comedy about some thieves become involved into incredible and frightening adventures

  ma-cortes2014-05-17

  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 .

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• Another entertaining and crazy film from Álex de la Iglesia

  Red-Barracuda2014-02-24

  Witching and Bitching is the latest insane film from Álex de la Iglesia. His last effort was the bonkers violent clown madness that was The Last Circus. This film probably falls a little short of that one overall but it shares the anarchic comedy with violence template pretty closely. Like that film too, this one does lose steam a bit in its final section where it goes for a big ending, which loses sight of what made it good before a little. This is a pretty minor criticism though because on the whole this movie proves again that Iglesia is always someone who delivers something a bit left-field, unconcerned with the niceties of political correctness. The story has thieves on the run from a badly staged crime. On their escape route, they find themselves in a mysterious village in the Basque country where they are soon captured by a coven of witches. As is common for Iglesia, this one starts out with a great, attention grabbing credit sequence where we are presented with images of witches and evil women throughout the ages. It takes a bit of a nerve to show a picture of notorious female killers such as Myra Hindley juxtaposed with former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher! After seeing that, well you can't say you haven't been warned. The opening heist is pretty hilarious, with the criminals dressed up as street artists and mascots. It's both funny and successfully pulse-pounding and certainly gets things off to a great start. Once the characters meet the witches, the film moves from being a crime-comedy into a horror-comedy, with a focus always on the humour. The witches themselves make for the most interesting characters in the movie, with Iglesia regular Carolina Bang being the standout as the seriously gorgeous biker-witch – she smolders the screen every time she appears. This section of the film focuses on lots of macabre humour and ends with a horde of witches gathering in a cave in anticipation for the arrival of their queen, who is a giant monstrous being. Like I said earlier, this whole finale in the cavern is less interesting than what has gone before – when things get too big and effects-driven you feel Iglesia himself loses a bit of interest too. But overall, this is another very enjoyable, crazy movie from this Spanish maverick.

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• Very Well Done

  gregsrants2014-07-07

  A surprise winner at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival as a Midnight Madness selection, Witching and Bitching has been quietly playing the festival circuit before now landing on VOD with a high recommendation. Directed by Álex de la Iglesia (The Oxford Murders, The Last Circus), Witching and Bitching is a Spanish film that tells the story of a gang of jewellery thieves who end up in a town home to a coven of witches while fleeing a lucrative heist. The opening heist is very entertaining with the thieves dressed as street performers before the firepower is revealed and action ensues (seeing Spongebob Squarepants get riddled with bullets was a highlight). The smash-and-grab is aided by the gang leader's son who will accompany the fleeing criminals as they try to escape the country by forcing a cab driver to abet their plans. With the police and an ex-wife in quick pursuit, the gang lands in a town that could not be any worse than facing the police in a shoot-out. Three witches that reside in a lavish estate convince the men into their home and before you can say 'hocus pocus', they are tied up and tortured (some playfully, some violently) with the intention of being served as the main course for the countless witches that have been invited over for dinner. Equal parts of comedy and chaos ensues leading up to an unexpected and highly enjoyable climax that includes a giant naked witch that towers over her human counterparts who exponentially aides the body count. The sub-plots that help fuel the main story are every bit as interesting without impeding on the film's focus. There are the two cops that are following the ex-wife of one of the thieves, the innocent cab rider that ends up being tortured time and time again and there is even an interesting budding love story between the main character and a young witch who is torn between her feelings for the human and her commitment to the coven. The special effects department did a wonderful job on bringing everything to life and the script as penned by Jorge Guerricaechevarría and Álex de la Iglesia is incredibly enjoyable and maintains its consistency throughout the full 112-minute running time. Because the screen never gushes with blood many might not so easily classify Witching and Bitching as horror. But whether it is horror or just a really good thriller, either way – it is a very good film. www.killerreviews.com

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• Not De La Iglesia's best movie, but fun and entertaining

  Andy-2962013-11-23

  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.

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• Another dark comedy from Alex de la Iglesia

  abisio2013-12-29

  Alex de la Iglesia is one of the most interesting Spanish directors. His movies always carry a mix of violence and comedy (and sometimes horror) . He is able to get good production values; but most of the times humor is basically a gross exaggeration of Spanish idiosyncrasy and history which sometimes limits the audience's understanding of what is going on. "Las Brujas de Zagarramurdi" aka "Witching and Bitching" starts with a not very well-orchestrated pawn shop robbery . The main characters Jose (Hugo Silva) and Tony steal a bag full of golden rings with the help of Jose's 10 years old son. They escape kidnapping a taxi drivers and his passenger and try to cross to France. They are immediately identified and pursued by Jose's ex-wife and two dumb policemen. When they reach Zagarramurdi they had to confront a huge cove of witches with plans to eat them and destroy the world (or at least men). In is in its first half, the film is a crude (and very funny) commentary about Spain's dominant maternal society. The technical aspects like the car chase are very well staged and produced. The second half is an horror story played for fun with a few extreme gory / bad taste scenes and happy (or not so happy?) but far from politically correct ending. The FX are fine but could use some improvement. The cast is very good ; Hugo Silva is fine as the conflicted divorced / thief and Mario Casas (the most reliable commercial actor currently in Spain) is really funny. The women are OK; but nothing special. Carmen Maura and Macarena Gomez deliver very bitchy performances; but usually you expect far more from them. Carolina Bang is sexy but her character is underwritten. The same happens with Santiago Segura and Carlos Areces; two excellent comedians working as witches with timid results . In brief; it is very dark comedy; and very unusual comedy. It is really worth watch it.

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