I’m not familiar with the original series of children’s books that Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is based upon. From what I’ve read, it would appear that the film manages to channel the spirit (if you’ll pardon the pun) of the short stories by Alvin Schwartz, via the four supernatural vignettes that feature in the movies plot. Furthermore, the illustrations featured in the original publications, by Stephen Gammell, have obviously influenced the visual effects and production design of the movie. However, despite being marketed as a portmanteau movie, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is much more than that. The framing story is more than just an arbitrary pair of cinematic bookends, designed to wrap around the proceedings. It is entwined into the central narrative and the four supernatural meta stories. Rather than being a pure anthology movie, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is at its heart, a film about the nature and inherent power of stories themselves.