Thanks to the largesse of one Philip Maniaci, I have just returned home from a screening of Álex de la Iglesia's Witching and Bitching*.
After a riveting and beautifully edited opening credit sequence, the film starts out as a slick and snappy heist romp, featuring a wonderfully choreographed and executed robbery which involves a disturbingly gratifying moment when Spongebob Squarepants gets utterly annihilated by automatic weapons fire, ** and then takes a pretty sharp left, transitioning into a genuinely freaky horror flick with a fantastic and epic third act, in which the chaos is palpable and truly unsettling. Did I forget the men vs. women metaphor that underscores the whole film? Because there’s that as well.
The casting is perfect: the Mother, Maiden, Crone trio of Carmen Maura, Carolina Bang and Terele Pávez (especially those last two), each terrifying and compelling in their own specific fashion, the cordial, well-spoken monster played by Javier Botet and the corrupted, chilling innocence of Enrique Villén’s El Inadaptado Socia. ***
Overall, Witching and Bitching feels like a funnier, smarter and more subtle From Dusk ’Til Dawn. It exudes a stylish feel as thick as blood or the fog in the forests of Zugarramurdi. If you’re a fan of the skillful combination of horror and humor (Shaun of the Dead, Drag Me to Hell, Zombieland, Army Of Darkness) then you should probably check this out.
Witching and Bitching is coming to theaters June 13th as well as VOD and other digital outlets.
* Las brujas de Zugarramurdi in the original Spanish.
** Living in New York City and having seen such abominations cluttering up Times Square...well, you understand.
*** Literally, “the social misfit”.
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