A black comedy mash-up of Tarantino-esque crime thriller and outrageous witch horror, directed by a truly talented film-maker in Alex de la Iglesia. It felt as if the stars were aligned and there was no way I wasn't going to love Witching & Bitching (I guess the direct translation from the Spanish title, The Witches of Zugarramurdi was deemed too much of a mouthful for non-Spaniards). And there's so much visual exuberance from de la Iglesia here that I really want to love it. But I have to admit I don't.

The writing really lets this down, and possibly this could have been saved by better editing so I guess we should blame that too. First and foremost, it's just too long and meandering with too many saggy passages. It loses momentum so often that by the time we get to the final act (I couldn't even tell you how many acts this movie has, but it sure doesn't feel like a tight three act structure) I had largely lost interest.

Despite a great cast - including the great Carmen Maura, by the way, whose appearance left me with a strong hankering for an early Almodovar film - there's a huge issue with our main protagonist, Jose (played by Hugo Silva). It's a tricky thing to present an audience with a character who is clearly so flawed but yet want us to get behind him. It takes some kind of virtuosity of script or charisma from the actor, or both. But this guy just comes across as a monumental dickhead. To make matters worse, he then becomes entwined in a romantic sub-plot with one of the witches (played by Carolina Bang - and yes she looks exactly like you'd think with a name like that - I'm not complaining) which feels unearned, unlikely even within the context of this intentionally silly plot, and frankly makes an unappealing couple.

It definitely has its moments though. The whole milieu of the village of Zugarramurdi which surrounds this old mansion where the witch's coven is based, and then the extended witch community that we get introduced to, is really great. It feels a bit like a film taken from a series of books - this is ripe material for a whole lot of different stories featuring the same characters. The witches are definitely the best part of the film, although I also liked the performance of Mario Casas as Antonio, Jose's inept partner in crime. The film looks terrific and de la Iglesia pulls off some great horror sequences and effects as well. Unfortunately, it just doesn't quite come together as a compelling narrative.