On a scale of 1 to 10, how scared are you right now? How would you like to up that number significantly? If you like the thrill of a good haunted house or the adrenaline rush that comes from the sound of a revving chain saw, you need to keep an eye out for the upcoming Dark Matters Film Festival. The festival is a newly formed showcase for horror, dark fantasy and weird science fiction films right here in New Mexico. The showcase is expected to launch in late-April/early-March 2013. Organizers are whetting appetites and quickening pulses, however, with a fundraising teaser event on Saturday, June 30.

The second annual Albuquerque Film Festival is about to open the floodgates, letting loose five days’ worth of films, panels, workshops and parties. Throughout the weekend, there will be feature films, both local (Rod McCall’s coming-of-age drama Becoming Eduardo, Andrew Lauer’s kiddie fantasy Adventures of a Teenage Dragon Slayer) and national (the Iraq War drama The Dry Land starring America Ferrera, the low-budget indie dramedy Fanny, Annie & Danny).

The third annual Taos Shortz Film Festival takes place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 5 through 7, at the Best Western Kachina Lodge up in Taos. There are five separate short film blocks screening Friday and Saturday. The weekend gets topped off by an awards ceremony on Sunday. More than 50 short films from New Mexico and beyond will be featured. There’s no overriding theme to the shorts blocks, but they are helpfully separated into ones reserved for mature audiences, ones in which parental guidance is suggested and ones to which kids of all ages are welcome. Individual tickets and all-event passes are available through the festival’s website at taosshortz.com.