Spooky stories are just as much a part of the Halloween season as witches, jack-o’-lanterns and skeletons. There are scary stories for people of all fright levels—from the safety of a ...

"A good scary book thrills in a way no other genre can quite match, it simply demands to be read," says children's horror author Rachel Burge as I interview her, appropriately enough, on Halloween.

But setting these distinctions aside, the foundation of any good horror story — and subsequent film adaptation — consists of three key elements. A spectacularly spooky setting for one thing.