Alex de la Iglesia goes hell-for-leather with this riotous horror comedy that will likely draw parallels with Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn for its heist-turned-horror switcheroo narrative. Hugo Silva stars as Jose, hard-up single parent and a couple of simpleminded cronies hold up a cash-for-gold store in central Madrid before hightailing it into the Basque countryside. With his young son in tow, Jose soon finds his ex-wife (Macarena Gomez) – as well as the authorities – on their tail, but what at first appears to be a quiet village to lay low for the night proves quite the opposite when these three misogynistic robbers inadvertently stumble into a witches’ coven.
The gorgeous Carolina Bang and Almodovar regular Carmen Maura head up the cast of witches, and the film soon descends into CG-heavy slapstick horror as the men find themselves cornered in an underground network of cavernous tunnels. The film runs a little long and spins its wheels in the final act somewhat, but Witching & Bitching is still hugely entertaining and worth catching if only for the incredible opening heist, which sees a shotgun-wielding silver-painted Jesus and Spongebob Squarepants – among others – run amok in the Spanish capital.
