THE OTHERS, 2001

THE SHINING, 1980

RABBIT-PROOF FENCE, 2002

Independence Day 1996

Sunday, 4 p.m., CINEMAX

Wouldn’t you know it? The aliens decide to invade, (the outer space kind, not the illegal-over-the-border-kind) right on Independence Day and Bill Pullman, president of the US, urges brilliant scientist Jeff Goldblum, and Air Force pilots extraordinaire Will Smith (left) and Randy Quaid to save the planet. Great special effects and great, good fun.

The Others 2001

Thurs., 5:30 p.m., AMC

Director Alejandro Amenábar’s well-crafted ghost story about a woman (Nicole Kidman, right) on the edge, who in 1945, is living in a gloomy English mansion with her adolescent daughter (Alakina Mann), and younger son (James Bentley) while awaiting the return of her husband from the war. She must keep the place shuttered and dark because the children are “photosensitive,” and can’t be exposed to sunlight. Or maybe not. Lots of twists and a few shouts.

The Shining 1980

Saturday, 10 p.m., WNET

Speaking of twists and shouts, Stanley Kubrick’s brilliantly spooky howler from the Stephen King stars Jack Nicholson as a blocked (failed) writer who takes a job as the caretaker of an isolated hotel shuttered for the winter. Soon his little son, (Danny Lloyd) starts to see evil past, present and future in the hotel, as his dad grows increasingly more weird and his mom (Shelley Duvall) becomes more frightened of her unhinged husband.

Rabbit-Proof Fence 2002

Sunday, 1:50 a.m., WNET

A brilliant and touching film based on Doris Pilkington Garimara’s book, about her mother who escaped with her little cousin from an Australian internment camp during the early 20th century when “half-caste” children from Aboriginal mothers and white fathers were taken from their families and trained to work as domestics in the homes of whites.