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.

Apparently we are not, as a nation, over that whole “found footage” thing. Obviously, after the chart-topping release of the theatrical superhero flick Chronicle and the successful debut of the jungle-clad horror series “The River,” America is still perfectly happy to watch handheld shaky-cam footage of stuff they can’t quite see happening. From The Blair Witch Project to Cloverfield to Apollo 18 to The Devil Inside, Hollywood has worked long and hard to turn “shot-on-video faux documentary” into a genre—mostly because it costs next to nothing to make.

When you think about it, post-Katrina Louisiana creates the perfect setting for a horror tale. Storm-ravaged bayous and flooded levees—along with an already prevalent culture of the supernatural—certainly make the environs of the Deep South ripe for an ill-intentioned bogeyman or two. So sets the scene for local author Ania Ahlborn's first novel, Seed, which takes the hot-ticket items of demonic possession and sinister children and tosses them into a musty, kudzu-covered Southern Gothic blender.