Celebrating Halloween legend Robert Englund who fittingly received his star on the Walk of Fame today

It’s Halloween and in the spirit of Halloween, we’re going to celebrate a Halloween legend—Robert Englund, best known for playing Freddy Krueger. Robert Englund received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, which is fitting. I know these stars are purchased, but I genuinely don’t care when an actual cinematic icon gets a moment in the sun like this.

Robert Englund defined nightmares for generations of kids, he was the eminent 1980s horror icon, he became so immutably identifiable as Freddy Krueger he has appeared in numerous other movies and TV shows basically homaging himself (my favorites include his episode of Bones and Workaholics).

The star ceremony brought out fans and some fellow horror icons with Robert Patrick and Heather Langenkamp, Freddy’s first final girl, and Eli Roth, whose work only sometimes appeals to me, but I do not doubt his love of the genre. Roth is a filmmaker who knows on whose shoulders he stands, and he did make Thanksgiving in 2023, which immediately became a seasonal must-watch for me. I have all my Halloween movies, then I celebrate Thanksgiving with Nightmare Before Christmas—it’s a Halloween AND a Christmas movie, so I split the difference—and Thanksgiving, a fantastic, fast-paced slasher for the post-spooky recovery phase. Also, Patrick Dempsey is extremely dishy in the film.

Sometimes these star ceremonies feel like PR stops in the middle of a press tour, but sometimes you know it’s going to someone who really appreciates the moment. Robert Englund earned it, he gave generations nightmares and was so good at it he basically couldn’t do anything else. It’s a deserved moment in the spooky sun.

What else happened today…

My mom is super into jigsaw puzzles. She’s always working a puzzle. Every visit is defined by a new puzzle. I get bored of puzzles after a bit because like…we just sit? And touch shapes? That’s all we’re doing? Touching shapes? Touching shapes until they touch other shapes? Forever? I try to love the puzzles, because my mom loves to gossip over a shape board, but it’s just…the shapes. There are too many. (Popsugar)

Emma Thompson supports Colbert for president. She is also doggedly anti-AI. No surprise there, she’s a brilliant writer (“I’m 27 and I’m frightened!” iykyk). My dad asked me about using AI and I told him the truth—I’ve yet to meet an AI that is a better writer than me. It just gets in my way. I’ve disabled it on my work and personal computers. I spend more time fixing it than anything else, it is actually faster for me to just write whatever myself from scratch. So I fully feel Emma’s frustration with AI butting into her work. (Go Fug Yourself)

Emma Thompson on AI and writing
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yasharali.bsky.social) 2025-10-28T13:06:22.070Z

I refuse to know anything about 6-7 (Lainey wrote about the 6-7 costumes yesterday in this space), but I do think it’s funny Merriam-Webster made it the word of the year after specifically being asked not to. I also think it’s funny this is what will kill it as a thing the kids say. Nothing is less cool than a dictionary butting into your annoying youthful trends. (Celebitchy)

The Criterion Mobile Closet came to the Chicago International Film Festival earlier this month. During a weekend when massive protests took over the city, and ICE raids continued on our neighbors, Robert Daniels went and spoke to the people who chose to queue for Criterion. People weren’t necessarily disconnected from the other events happening around the city but saw it as an escape from our harsh reality, or a way to bond with like-minded people over something fun. Very true! But the dissonance is real anyway. (RogerEbert.com)