Friday The 13th Writer Victor Miller Dies At 86

Victor Miller, writer of the original Friday the 13th movie, has passed away.

Miller's death was confirmed by his son, Ian, on Instagram. The Friday the 13th writer died on Monday, August 31 in Alameda, California at the age of 86 years old. In Ian's tribute, along with a hearfelt remembrance and various pictures of his father, he shared that "For those who are interested, we will hold a celebration of life in November — on Friday the 13th, of course."

The script for the original Friday the 13th movie was not only written by Miller, but he developed the story for it as well. He recently shared with a Friday the 13th fan site that “First came the concept that we emulate Halloween. The title didn’t come until the screenplay had already gone through at least one draft." He then went on to explain how the concept evolved from the Michael Myers films:

The idea for the summer camp came from my instinct that we needed a location where young adults would be cut off from all adult help, the basic idea in Halloween. The idea that Jason had died before the film began also came from the concept in Halloween — that there is a prior evil — Michael Myers’s murdering the babysitter, if I recall correctly. The rest of the story came as a result of the location and the idea that, one by one, the campers would be eliminated by the world’s most protective mother.

While Miller was not involved in the many Friday the 13th movies that followed, he is the one who created Jason Voorhees and his mother, Pamela Voorhees, laying the foundation for the rest of the franchise. He has previously spoken about not approving of how Jason became the killer in the sequels instead of Pamela.

On its own, the original movie is also a horror classic that has largely defined the slasher genre and made tropes like the summer camp setting and teenage debauchery more popular.

Beyond Friday the 13th, Miller's writing credits included General Hospital, All My Children, Another World, Guiding Light, and One Life to Live. All My Children won three Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team, with Miller being a critical member of the award-winning team. Another World and One Life to Live also received Daytime Emmy nominations for writing during his time writing on those series.

His horror legacy is set to continue next month on October 15 with Peacock's Crystal Lake show. It is a prequel to Friday the 13th featuring Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees and Callum Vinson as young Jason Voorhees. Brad Caleb Kane, who was the co-showrunner of HBO Max's IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 and is set to be the sole showrunner of season 2, created the Crystal Lake series. He is the showrunner of this horror prequel as well.

Victor Miller is survived by his wife, Tina Thurston Miller, and his two sons, Ian and Josh.

Release Date May 9, 1980

Runtime 95 minutes

Director Sean S. Cunningham

Writers Victor Miller

• 
• 

  Betsy Palmer

  Mrs. Voorhees