To me, this movie is perfection.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A Spanish horror-comedy in which a group of bank-robbers stumble into a witch coven. Hijinks ensue, comedy is had. The theme of this one is about how the robbers (all men) have woman issues and have all but renounced their kind as villainous, deceptive and bitchy (*cough* witchy--get it?) The witch coven has done the same thing (there are no warlocks; though one witch has a son she keeps locked up in an underground vault).Some lessons are not really learned, and there's a hulking monster witch with enormous boobs at the end the men have to contend with (one woman takes their side, alas). There's definitely some fun to be had here but it's fleeting and I'm not sure it's anywhere near as progressive as it thinks it is (if it does, I don't know).

Starts as a funny crime-caper, ends as a very silly horror movie.This movie had potential. It started very well, with a good robbery and police chase and some very funny dialogue. However, the moment it went from Tarantinoesque crime drama to a supernatural horror movie, it lost all focus and became very stupid. Just scene after mindless scene of hokey, unoriginal horror crap. Some of the clever dialogue remains, but that's about all that's positive about the last 70% or so of the movie.Sort of reminded me of From Dusk Till Dawn, which started well and then progressed/degenerated in a similar fashion.

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.

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.