Halloween

Robert Englund's looks over the years are like a dream!

Here is a 44-year-old version of the long-time scary moviemaker looking quite supernatural during the "Horror Hall of Fame" Gala at Universal Studios back in 1991 (left). This was just a few years before he reprised his role of Freddy Krueger in "Wes Craven's New Nightmare."

And, 31 years later the iconic thrill-seeker recently brought his scariest pose to a film festival in Spain (right). He may not be in his signature striped sweater, fedora and razor-claw glove ... but he still cuts up the competition with one glance.

"One, two, Freddy's coming for you!"

The question is ...

Underneath this screaming and weeping caricature is a long-time actor who could definitely slaughter you in a round of wrestling, and when he's not playing the role of deputy sheriff, you can personally find him on Insta always committing and showing his love for horror.

Even though this buffy guy is most known for his thrilling film roles, he took a jab at the romance genre with Drew Barrymore in the late 90's. It's probably safe to say that this spooky figure has never been kissed.

It's time to GO BIG OR GOURD HOME with your pumpkin carvings, because Halloween is only days away!

If you're feeling frightened with your pumpkin creations, don't back down, because TMZ has got you covered with all kinds of celebrity stencils.

Coming to a doorstep near you! Cut out this year's hottest stars who've been trending at the top of your feed ... including Rihanna, Tyler The Creator, Gisele Bündchen and Howie Mandel.

Knock-on into our gallery of celebrity pumpkin stencils! Use the links to download and print out an easy-to-use PDF template to get right to it!

Ever since Pennywise from "It" crawled out from the city sewers, the sight of a clown has never been scarier ... complete with the thousand-mile stare and nightmarish blank smile. Scope out this receding monster and see if you can find the differences in the two spooky shots.

Pennywise has fled the Neibolt's house and is currently on display at the Icons Of Horror exhibit at Madame Tussauds in New York City. Before this terrorizing clown comes back to life, can you locate the minor changes?

"You'll float too!"

Turns out the day care workers facing felonies in Mississippi for terrorizing little kids in a horror mask weren't the first to do so ... but their penalty is certainly much more severe.

Check out this resurfaced clip from Shirley's Victorious Learning Center in Florida from 2016 when someone dressed as Freddy Krueger torments a group of youngins. The kids scatter, screaming and crying ... as someone else, presumably an employee films the whole thing.

While the old clip might deliver the same scare as the clip out of Mississippi, the owner of Shirley's told WJAX-TV parents knew it was going to happen, and no complaints were filed.

As we reported, the 5 day care workers in Mississippi weren't so lucky after a clip of one of them in a Halloween horror mask scaring kids went viral.

The parents whose children got the crap scared out of them by Mississippi day care workers pushed hard for those adults to get hit with serious crimes, and it ultimately worked ... according to law enforcement.

Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook, who is spearheading the criminal investigation, tells TMZ ... 3 sets of parents ran to the County Courthouse to demand felony child abuse charges. They made it clear they thought the behavior was too egregious for misdemeanor charges.

As we reported ... 4 women are each facing 3 counts of felony child abuse over the video showing at least one worker terrifying kids from behind a scary mask.

Crook says child abuse was the only felony charge under state law that seemed to fit the allegations.

A fifth day care worker is facing 2 misdemeanor charges -- failure to report abuse and simple assault -- and the day care owner has reportedly fired all of the employees involved.

Crook says folks in the community alerted cops to the videos by forwarding links, and after viewing the footage ... he assigned an investigator to begin a criminal probe.

Celebrities often go all out when it comes to their Halloween costumes ... and a lot of them look smokin' hot in their garb, so we've gotta ask -- Who'd you rather?!

Cowgirls have always been a popular costume choice during the spooky season ... and Draya Michele & Kim Kardashian have been down this road before ... so which one's hogtied your heart?

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are 2 of the hottest rappers in the game ... not only for their bars, but for their Halloween outfits, too! So who caught your eye?

Before this Miami native made her way out west to Los Angeles to be a model and movie star, she was putting on her most beautiful blue dress and posing for pictures in Silver Lake, CA.

It wasn't "2 Fast 2 Furious" for this gorgeous gal to make her way back to Miami where she was in Will Smith's "Miami" music video. This cute kid had some hard training days to accomplish everything she has, and that includes playing alongside Denzel Washington in two big movies.

A few thriller movies she's starred in include "Ghost Rider," "Lost River" and "Urban Legends: Final Cut."

As Halloween approaches, normies are looking for thrills -- and so are celebs ... which is exactly why a good amount of 'em are hitting Universal Studios for the best scares in town.

As you might know, Halloween Horror Nights is underway at the L.A. theme park -- and with some of the freakiest haunted mazes within reach in Hollywood ... it's no surprise that some A-listers are pouring in for their fair share.

Among some of stars who've shown up so far ... Billie Eilish, Jordyn Woods and her BF, Karl-Anthony Towns. While you'd think they'd be screaming, they're actually all cheesin'!

Bebe Rexha also popped in for HHH, but her visit seems to have been a little more fright-filled ... 'cause it looks like she's losing her head here. That, or just hamming it up for the camera -- could go either way.

Actress Kiernan Shipka also splashed down at one point this season. She looked a little more even-keeled than Bebe did alongside a bunch of monsters -- but that might have to do with her work on the 'Sabrina' witch show on Netflix ... which is scary as hell.

There's also Shawn Mendes, who swung by to pose with the performers and flash his pearly whites. The guy didn't look to be too afraid or anything.

The attraction's got a rep for being as in-your-face as possible in terms of trying to scare you ... but these folks aren't allowed to make actual contact, close as they might get.

That directive is likely applied even more so when it comes to the rich and famous who might swing by during Halloween-time ... in other words, these fine folks are at no real risk of being too scared or accosted.

As for the rest of us ... well, a little more so.

American actor Joey Zimmerman was just 12 years old when he was first cast as Dylan Piper -- the sarcastic Piper child who hates Halloween despite his ability to perform witchcraft -- in the Halloween fantasy film "Halloweentown" back in 1998.

Joey shared the screen with Kimberly J. Brown as the witch in training who leaves the mortal world with her siblings, Marnie Piper and Emily Roeske as the youngest Piper sibling and mischief-maker, Sophie Piper.

Zimmerman was also in the sequels including "Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge," "Halloweentown High," and "Return To Halloweentown."

Considering being Jeffrey Dahmer for Halloween? Simone Biles says you better think twice about the costume ... telling people it's NOT okay to wear the 'fit.

"im just gon go head and say it," the Olympic gold medalist announced on Twitter on Tuesday, "put the jeffrey dahmer costumes back in the closet. we ain't having it!!!!!!"

The killer-themed getup has been a popular one this month ... in wake of the new Netflix show which shined a light on the murderer's life.

Wire-rimmed glasses, vintage shirts and blonde wigs are being sold all over ... but Biles is making it clear, she's fully against it all.

Dahmer murdered 17 young men -- and was accused of targeting marginalized communities to find his victims. Biles says all of that should spell out a no-go on the October costume idea.

The gymnast isn't the only one feeling that way ... Shirley Hughes, the mother of one of Dahmer's victims, told TMZ earlier this month the costumes are hurtful. She's advocated for online ads for Dahmer props to be taken down.

Halloween is right around the corner, and some die-hard fans are getting the chance to get their hands on some actual props from their favorite horror flicks.

Prop Store online auction house has a ton of gear -- from Freddy to Jason and more -- about to go up on the block, but the prices might scare the you-know-what outta you.

There's plenty of Jason Voorhees memorabilia to go around ... like the entire get-up worn in the 2003 "Freddy vs. Jason" flick. It features a coat, jumper, long-sleeved T-shirt, pair of trousers and a belt ... and even comes with an autographed undersuit. The 'fit is estimated to sell for $20 to $30K.

There's also Jason's infamous hockey mask worn in the 1989 flick "Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan." It's expected to fetch between $40K and $60K.

"The Omen" fans can relive the making of the 1976 film with this production-used clapperboard ... it's estimated to bring in between $6k and $8K.

Jeffrey Dahmer is all the rage this spooky season, and while full-blown costumes -- mimicking the serial killer and his crimes -- have been yanked offline, the homemade crowd still has an outlet.

Etsy, as it turns out, is hawking a ton of Dahmer-themed gear right now -- stuff from graphic tees to cutting boards and everything in between, it seems. The shirts, in particular, are distasteful ... especially because of the jokey messages blared across the fronts.

There are a few iterations of "Jeff Boyardee" tees that are cheap buys ... $8 to $20, more or less. Another leans in on the sadomasochism and invokes another serial murderer -- reading, "Choke me like Bundy and Eat me like Dahmer." Both of their faces are featured.

Dahmer shoes are also being sold, with a cartoon version of his face and a bunch of chopped meat all over the outside. The cutting board has Dahmer's name etched into the wood and a note that says, "If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em. - Jeffrey Dahmer."

The point here is ... Dahmer-fever's now reaching well beyond places like eBay ... which has removed a lot of similar items.

As we reported ... eBay says a lot of the JD-inspired costumes that were/are on their platform violate their terms and conditions, especially as it pertains to promoting violent content -- which obviously applies to Dahmer, who killed upwards of 17 boys and men.

You're definitely not gonna see Dahmer costumes in stores or anything, which might be why people are turning to places like eBay or Etsy -- but the fact is, a Dahmer outfit is not difficult to recreate whatsoever.

If people wanna dress up as Dahmer, they're probably gonna do it whether they can get it on the Internet or elsewhere -- this despite the outcry from the families of the slain.

Johnny Depp's post-trial high is rolling right into Halloween, and that means you should get ready for even more Captain Jack Sparrow costumes than usual while you're out partying.

There's a notable trend going on at the world's largest costume retailer -- honchos at Halloweencostumes.com tell us they're seeing a 90 percent sales spike in purchases related to Johnny's famous Disney character.

The retailer has a couple Jack Sparrow costumes -- a basic one for $85 to $95, and a higher quality one for $245 to $299 -- and we're told folks have already cleared out over 85% of the inventory.

The run on Jack Sparrow costumes is further evidence of Johnny's big comeback since his legal win over Amber Heard in court.

Since the defamation trial, Johnny's been swarmed by fans around the world during his music tour, appeared as MTV's Moonman and signed a lucrative deal to return as the face of Dior's Sauvage men's scent.

It's spooky season, which means it's time for some folks to check out the creepiest haunted houses around town. In honor of the holiday, we take a look at some infamous houses to ever hit the big screen.

The Dakota apartment building in NYC is best known as 'The Bramford' in the 1968 horror film "Rosemary's Baby," and it's got some pretty fascinating history. It was once home to celebs like Leonard Bernstein, Lauren Bacall -- and John Lennon, who was shot and killed at the front entrance.

California is notorious for some of these haunted houses ... like the iconic home of Michael Myers from the 1978 OG horror flick "Halloween," which is currently in South Pasadena, CA ...  and many others around L.A.

There's also a ton of creepy houses around the globe ... like The Oakley Court Hotel featured in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" horror flick.

American actor Matthew Lillard was 26 years old when he was cast as Stu Macher -- the outgoing and slightly strange student attending Woodsboro High School who loves a great party -- in the horror film "Scream" back in 1996.

Matt shared the big screen with Neve Campbell as the smart and sensible gal who successfully flees from the killer, Sidney Prescott, Courteney Cox as the lens hog newscaster determined to cover and solve the town's unknown killer, Gale Weathers and Drew Barrymore as the innocent girlfriend who is murdered while making some popcorn, Casey Becker.