Selección Terror: El Regreso de los Pájaros

About this issue

"El regreso de los pájaros" by Lou Carrigan is a Spanish-language horror/thriller tale presented in fragmented sections. The narrative opens with a female protagonist imprisoned in a dark cell, haunted by visions of corpses suspended by wires and electrocuted bodies. The story then cuts to a climactic scene of firefighters battling a mansion blaze, during which a blood-soaked, monstrous figure attacks fireman Jerry Conway with a blade, critically wounding him before being struck by a pickaxe. The narrative shifts to establish motive: Ernest Maxwell, a Hollywood agent, seduces naive twenty-year-old aspiring actress Lucille Dexter with promises of stardom, then callously dismisses her, offering only exploitative roles in private films. After their motel encounter, when Ernest showers, Lucille—previously passive—enters the bathroom with a kitchen knife and stabs him repeatedly in the chest. The text breaks off mid-attack, leaving the outcome ambiguous.