In case you missed it the first time: The Shining

It's that time again: time to buy sappy cards, neon-colored candy, and overpriced stuffed animals for friends and lovers alike.

That's right, it's Friday the 13th. And what better way to honor this spooky day than to grab some popcorn and watch a truly horrific movie? Although boy band B2K's You Got Served (now in theaters) is terrifying in its own right, this day calls for a more classic horror flick.

The Shining (1980), directed by Stanley Kubrick, is the renowned director's only foray into the horror genre. Starring Jack Nicholson, a scarecrow-like Shelly Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and veteran actor Scatman Crothers, the film is regarded by many as one of the scariest movies ever made.

Writer Jack Torrance (Nicholson) is selected to be winter caretakers of the cavernous Overlook Hotel, a summer resort that closes during the desolate Colorado winters. Torrance brings his wife (Duvall), and young son Danny (Lloyd) along to accompany him through the lonely months.

Kubrick carefully establishes the family's total isolation: the unplowed roads leading to the hotel, to the bleak expanse of snow outside the enormous residence, to the massive and empty rooms in the hotel itself. Soon after their arrival, a long-dead former caretaker and his two daughters whom he brutally murdered years ago begin haunting the not-so-happy family. The caretaker slowly starts prodding Jack to "correct" his family while the two girls terrify young Danny. Nicholson's decent into madness is palpable and unstoppable.

The film culminates as the ax-wielding Jack first hacks down a bathroom door to get at his wife, yelling humorously, "Here's Johnny!", then chases his young son into the intricately confusing hedge-maze. The audience watches in horror as Nicholson stalks his son's footsteps in the falling snow.

Throughout the film, characters go around corners before the camera follows, and keeps the audience on edge as the score builds to terrifying crescendos without payoff. Kubrick successfully keeps the audience guessing and terrified the whole time.

A masterful study of isolation, madness, and finally mayhem, The Shining is what every horror movie and Neverland Ranch sleepover try to be: scarier for what might happen than what actually does.

Kubrick is remembered as one of the foremost directors of his time with other classics such as Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange.