Witching and Bitching
The horror comedies here have been, shall we say, gentle. The Witches of Eastwick certainly has a lot of scary Jack Nicholson faces, but it’s not really enough to generate the right kind of horrified laughter. Witching and Bitching, meanwhile, has got a high-octane, early Sam Raimi feel that could very well do the trick.
Witching and Bitching opens on two Spanish robbers, José and Tony, in the midst of a pawnshop holdup. José has brought his young son Sergio along. Tony’s unhappy about that, though Sergio himself seems more than happy to participate.
The trio escapes and hijacks a taxi with the intent to make a run for the French border. They’re followed by Sergio’s mother, Silvia, and two police officers, Pacheco and Calvo. Everyone has terrible luck, however, as they all end up in a small town packed to the gills with witches.
Zugarramurdi, as the town is called, is home to a coven of cannibalistic witches led by Graciana (Carmen Maura). They’re set to use young Sergio as an offering to an ancient (and hungry) goddess. Indeed, Sergio will be their agent of revenge against all mankind. Their methods are pretty horrifying, but on some days, it’s hard to argue with their goals.
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Anyway, it all goes wrong thanks to the bumbling robbers and their associates. In particular, Graciana’s daughter Eva (Carolina Bang) decides to fall in love with José and agrees to help them delay the end of humanity. When the ancient goddess actually makes an appearance, Eva destroys her and causes the cavern in which the ritual is taking to collapse.
Don’t worry too much about the witches, though. As the ending shows, they’re always waiting for the happy ending to, well, end. Something tells me that Graciana and her coven-mates will be around to cause plenty more trouble.
With that, we’ve wrapped up the best witches for Halloween.