Witching & Bitching

Witching & Bitching
Witching & Bitching
	Teaser poster
Spanish	Las brujas de Zugarramurdi
Directed by	Álex de la Iglesia
Written by	Jorge Guerricaechevarría; Álex de la Iglesia;
Produced by	Enrique Cerezo; Vérane Frédiani; Franck Ribière; Sheila Siguero;
Starring	Hugo Silva; Mario Casas; Pepón Nieto; Carolina Bang; Terele Pávez; Jaime Ordóñez; Santiago Segura; Carlos Areces; Secun de la Rosa; Macarena Gómez; Gabriel Ángel Delgado; Carmen Maura;
Cinematography	Kiko de la Rica
Edited by	Pablo Blanco
Music by	Joan Valent
Production; companies	Enrique Cerezo Producciones Cinematográficas S.A.; La Ferme! Productions;
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	14 September 2013 (TIFF); 27 September 2013 (Spain);
Running time	114 minutes
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish

Witching & Bitching (Spanish: Las brujas de Zugarramurdi; transl. 'The Witches of Zugarramurdi') is a 2013 Spanish comedy horror film directed and co-written by Álex de la Iglesia.^[1] It stars Hugo Silva, Mario Casas, and Carmen Maura.

It won the most awards at the 28th Goya Awards with eight wins out of ten nominations, primarily in technical categories.

Plot

The film opens with two men, José and Antonio robbing a pawn shop in Madrid. Antonio is unhappy that José has brought his son Sergio along on the heist and is even unhappier that the child is participating with them, as this puts both him and them at risk. The robbery turns sour and several people die in the resulting gunfire. The men hijack a taxi and stow its unwilling passenger in the trunk, then force the driver, Manuel, to drive towards Spain's border with the intent to flee to France.

The group is followed by Sergio's mother and José's ex Silvia as well as two police investigators Pacheco and Calvo, who are tracking Silvia. The men end up in Zugarramurdi, Navarre, where they come across a group of cannibalistic witches led by Graciana, whose mother Maritxu tries to cook Sergio in her oven. They manage to escape the witches once but are forced to turn back, and are swiftly captured by the witches.

Silvia manages to find the witches' house, enlisting the help of the cops to break into the house. José, Antonio, and Manuel end up escaping in the ensuing chaos, however Silvia and the two cops are captured, with Silvia turned into a witch with the use of tainted toad juice. The three men are captured by the witches except for José, who survives only through the intervention of Graciana's daughter Eva, who has become infatuated with him. She demands that he leave with her right away, yet José refuses to leave his son behind. With help from Eva's brother Luismi, José finds his way to the ritual chamber. Along the way they free Eva, who had been buried alive by her mother for her betrayal.

Already in the chamber, Luismi and José are witness to Antonio, Manuel, Pacheco, and Calvo slowly burning in a pyre and the emergence of Graciana's goddess, a grotesque gargantuan woman resembling a fertility statue. The goddess devours Sergio, who passes through the giant and emerges alive. José confronts the witches with the help of Eva, who manages to cause the goddess's destruction, and José manages to escape the chaos with Sergio, Eva, and the other men. One month José and Eva are shown to be a couple raising Sergio, who is growing into his powers, yet Silvia, Graciana, and Maritxu are shown to be all alive and are content to wait for the couple to grow discontent with their happiness.

Cast

Hugo Silva as José
Mario Casas as Antonio
Pepón Nieto as Calvo
Carolina Bang as Eva
Terele Pávez as Maritxu
Jaime Ordóñez as Manuel
Gabriel Ángel Delgado as Sergio
Santiago Segura as Miren
Macarena Gómez as Silvia
Secun de la Rosa as Pacheco
Javier Botet as Luismi
Enrique Villén as The Social Outcast
Carlos Areces as Conchi
Manuel Tallafé [es] as The Badajoz man
María Barranco as Elderly woman
Carmen Maura as Graciana

Release

Distributed by Universal Pictures International Spain,^[2] the film was theatrically released in Spain on 27 September 2013, opening with €1,236,390 in its debut weekend (a 21% share of the entire box office).^[3]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a rating of 84% based on 31 reviews. The site's the consensus states: "Dark, nasty, and delightfully subversive, Witching and Bitching is gross-out genre fun with a heaping helping of warped comedy for good measure".^[4] On Metacritic it has a score of 73% based on reviews from 10 critics.^[5]

Accolades


Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2014	1st Feroz Awards	Best Comedy Film		Nominated	^[6]
	28th Goya Awards	Best Original Score	Joan Valent	Nominated	^[7]^[8]^[9]
		Best Supporting Actress	Terele Pávez	Won
		Best Production Supervision	Carlos Bernases	Won
		Best Cinematography	Kiko de la Rica	Nominated
		Best Editing	Pablo Blanco	Won
		Best Art Direction	Arturo García "Biaffra", José Luis Arrizabalaga "Arri"	Won
		Best Costume Design	Francisco Delgado López	Won
		Best Makeup and Hairstyles	María Dolores Gómez Castro, Javier Hernández Valentín, Pedro Rodríguez "Pedrati", Francisco J. Rodríguez Frías	Won
		Best Sound	Charly Schmukler, Nicolás de Poulpiquet	Won
		Best Special Effects	Juan Ramón Molina, Ferran Piquer	Won
	1st Platino Awards	Best Ibero-American Film		Nominated	^[10]^[11]
	1st Platino Awards	Best Original Score	Joan Valent	Nominated	^[10]^[11]
	1st Fénix Awards	Best Costume Design	Paco Delgado	Nominated	^[12]^[13]
		Best Art Direction	José Luis Arrizabalaga, Arturo García	Won
		Best Sound	Carlos Schmukler, Nicolás de Poulpiquet	Nominated
		Best Music	Joan Valent	Won
		Best Editing	Pablo Blanco	Nominated

References

^ "About the film". Film Factory Entertainment (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
^ "'Las brujas de Zugarramurdi' – estreno en cines 27 de septiembre". 23 September 2013.
^ "Vídeo en exclusiva de Las brujas de Zugarramurdi". HobbyConsolas. 1 October 2013.
^ "WITCHING AND BITCHING (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 24 Jan 2022.
^ "Witching and Bitching". Metacritic.
^ Agudo, Jesús (28 January 2014). "Lista de ganadores de los Premios Feroz 2014". ecartelera.
^ "'Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed', Big Winner at The 28th Goya Awards". Golden Globes. February 9, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
^ "Los ganadores de los Goya 2014". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). February 10, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
^ "Las brujas de Zugarramurdi". premiosgoya.com. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
^ "Premios Platino, el inicio de la celebración del cine iberoamericano". rtve.es. 4 April 2014.
^ "'Gloria', elegida la mejor película de la primera edición de los Premios Platino". Fotogramas. 7 April 2014.
^ "Anuncian nominados a los Premios Fénix". El Universal. 29 September 2014.
^ "Lista de ganadores de los Premios Fénix". 20minutos.com. 30 October 2014.

External links

Witching & Bitching at IMDb
Witching & Bitching at AllMovie

[1] "About the film". Film Factory Entertainment (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2018.

[2] "'Las brujas de Zugarramurdi' – estreno en cines 27 de septiembre". 23 September 2013.

[3] "Vídeo en exclusiva de Las brujas de Zugarramurdi". HobbyConsolas. 1 October 2013.

[4] "WITCHING AND BITCHING (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 24 Jan 2022.

[5] "Witching and Bitching". Metacritic.

[6] Agudo, Jesús (28 January 2014). "Lista de ganadores de los Premios Feroz 2014". ecartelera.

[7] "'Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed', Big Winner at The 28th Goya Awards". Golden Globes. February 9, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2020.

[8] "Los ganadores de los Goya 2014". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). February 10, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2020.

[9] "Las brujas de Zugarramurdi". premiosgoya.com. Retrieved 14 May 2022.

[10] "Premios Platino, el inicio de la celebración del cine iberoamericano". rtve.es. 4 April 2014.

[11] "'Gloria', elegida la mejor película de la primera edición de los Premios Platino". Fotogramas. 7 April 2014.

[12] "Anuncian nominados a los Premios Fénix". El Universal. 29 September 2014.

[13] "Lista de ganadores de los Premios Fénix". 20minutos.com. 30 October 2014.

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