(1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick, 142 mins., USA, R) This Halloween, make time for one of the scariest films of all time. Stanley Kubrick was celebrated—and criticized—for his obsessive work ethic, commanding visual sense, and darkly comic, defiant worldview. In The Shining, Kubrick and co-writer Diane Johnson elevate Stephen King’s simple tale of demonic possession into a complex, revelatory, hellish riff on madness, unreliability and ambiguity. The Shining follows the descent of a writer and family man (Jack Nicholson) into murderous psychosis at an isolated mountain resort hotel. Nicholson gives one of his best performances as a blocked writer/possessed caretaker. Known for its keen irony, supernatural angst, fluid cinematography, and impeccable score, The Shining is a horror film like none other. Shown in DVD.