Kind of like a 1960's B Horror Movie A Review of Mestiza Blood

  

Most of the stories in Mestiza Blood fall into the category of "Don't Go In That Room/House/Drainage Pipe/Hot Tub Unless You Are A Fool.  As it turns out, most of the characters choose to be fools. A big vulture/human thingy with dried blood all over it asks you to follow it down into the sewers so of course you go. What could go wrong? Something is eating both the wildlife and the humans at the isolated ranch house of a porno shoot--and the characters decide to stay an extra few days--and one decides to go hot-tubing all by himself, even though something is noshing them for the main course.  

Even though there are hopeful endings to most of the stories, they didn't feel realistic--as if horror is realistic. I'm willing to believe a teenage girl stabs a monster/flying/human-faced thingy to death, and then finds a chest full of gold, but I found it hard to believe that a random drug dealer and his fence are willing to help her turn the gold into cash and expect nothing in return. Who knew criminals could be so helpful? And the teen was able to carry her baby and the chest full of gold, no problem.  Do you know how heavy gold is? How about babies? Some of them are tubby.

It was a fun read, though. The key for me was to read it like it was the old-time horror, the kind B movies were made from. Most of it was so over the top that I couldn't help but laugh. This is not necessarily a bad thing if the reader is looking at the stories as if they are a 1960's double feature following "Hell's Angels A GoGo. The stories didn't scare me, but I had a good time with them.