Friday The 13th Writer Victor Miller Dies At 86

Published Sep 1, 2026, 10:55 PM EDT Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025. Sign in to your ScreenRant account This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.Victor Miller, writer of the original Friday the 13th movie, has passed away. Miller's death was confirmed to Variety by his son, Ian. The Friday the 13th writer died on Monday, August 31 in Alameda, California. He was 86 years old. 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 sequels that followed, he is the one who created Jason Voorhees and his mother, Pamela Voorhees, laying the foundation for the rest of the franchise. 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. More to come... Release Date May 9, 1980 Runtime 95 minutes Director Sean S. Cunningham Cast Betsy Palmer Mrs. Voorhees