We’ve got a special Friday the 13th treat for you today. We had a chance to interview the man who set this whole gory story in motion. Victor Miller wrote the screenplay for the original Friday the 13th for Sean Cunningham in 1979, and created the Pamela and Jason Voorhees characters we’ve all come to know and love. As many of  us look forward to the 13th installment of the franchise (due out next year), Miller reflects on his work with the original for us, and talks a little bit about his return to horror – a recently announced project called Rock Paper Dead, co-written by Miller and Kerry Flemming.

iHorror: Based on your IMDb page, it doesn’t look like you’ve written a script in quite some time. Is this accurate?

Victor Miller: Not at all. In the past five years or so I have co-authored at least four screenplays…After all my work in daytime drama, which is a group process, I found it more enjoyable and fulfilling to write with at least one other brain in the process. Writing is too lonely to be left to a solo act.

iH: You’ve said in the past that you’re not really a fan of the horror genre. Has that changed?  What made you decide to return to horror script writing and how did you get involved with Rock Paper Dead?

VM: I am not much of a fan of watching horror movies. I get scared too easily. Writing them is much more fun.

iH: It sounds like the movie has something to do with revenge. Can you tell us anything about the story?

VM: We began with a quote from Confucius which basically says when you embark upon a course of revenge, first dig two graves. I’ll leave you with that as a teaser.

iH: The Rock Paper Dead Facebook page shares a picture from FHM magazine of Mikaela Hoover, which mentions Zombie Basement in the accompanying text. Is Hoover set to appear in Rock Paper Dead? What’s the connection here?

VM: Our cast list will be forthcoming so I won’t leak anything at this point. A release is in the works.

iH: I read that Harry Manfredini is attached to do the score. Can you confirm this?

VM: Yes. Why would anyone in his right mind reach out to any other composer for the screen? Harry and I are great friends and my respect for his talent has only grown since Friday the 13th.

iH: I recently watched you in Nathan Erdel’s short Unwelcome. This seemed like a very random place for you to pop up. What drew your interest in that project?

VM: I love popping up in places. I do not believe I have turned down anyone’s request to do a bit. I am proudest of having played a wicked meth dealer in the San Jose (CA) PD’s recruitment film for their SWAT team. I am retired and love mini appearances.

 iH: I’m sure you understand that I’d be doing my readers (and myself) a great disservice if I didn’t ask you some Friday the 13th-related questions. You did, after all, write one of the horror genre’s most iconic films.

I read that you said at one point you weren’t particularly proud of the “Carrie” style ending. Has that changed?

VM: I never said I wasn’t proud of it; it is just that it is iconic and yet it is almost identical to the ending of Carrie. It worked for Carrie and it really worked for us. There are other original elements in the screenplay of which I am much more proud is all…like all of Tom Savini’s work.

iH: You’ve talked about having some ideas for other settings for Friday before settling on the summer camp. Were there any others that you had started to flesh out at all either in your mind or on paper?

VM: I had at least two pages of possible places. I didn’t start anything until Sean and I could agree on our location. When I said “Summer camp before it opens” he said yes and off I went.

iH: Is the Van Voorhees girl you got the name from someone you had a positive or negative relationship with?

VM: Neither. I just liked the name in all its Dutchness and basso profundo sound.

iH: You’ve talked about there originally being more to the relationship between Steve and Alice. Can you elaborate on what that would have entailed? Any particular scenes that you can recall?

VM: You’re kidding, right? 1979 and you want me to remember scenes that never made it on screen? Like 35 years ago? I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday. If I were to read them today I’d probably blush because I have learned a helluva lot in all those years. (Also: remember I was working on an IBM Selectric and paper. Sean had the only copier. I didn’t keep anything that got edited.)

iH: In Crystal Lake Memories, you share an anecdote about watching Friday with an audience and how chilling the sound of everybody screaming at the end was. Where does that moment rank on your list of gratifying life events?

VM: Right up there with being on three writing teams for ALL MY CHILDREN when we walked away with 3 Emmys and someplace behind my 50^thwedding anniversary and the births of my two sons and one grandson.

iH: You also mention Siskel’s infamous review in which he gave readers Betsy Palmer’s address. This seems insane given Siskel and Ebert’s crusade against horror films they deemed to be attacks on women. Here he was giving out a real woman’s address to the public. How do you think that would go over these days?

VM: They have to earn a buck and hating sells more than loving. I have gotten more kudos from women critics who lauded me for having my killer be a woman. I have to say I am super proud of Betsy’s work and the fact that a mother’s revenge has become iconic. She never once asked a man to do her work for her.  She is the mother I always wanted.

iH: I’ve read several interviews with you, where you say you’ve never watched any of the sequels, but these were from some time ago. In your current Facebook profile photo, you’re holding up a Jason painting with the hockey mask. Have you given in and watched any of these films? If so, what do you think?

VM: If the hockey mask is the icon for the dynasty I began, so be it. As for the sequels, it is sorta like watching another man father your children.

iH: When Friday the 13th was “remade” or “rebooted” if you prefer, assuming you knew the movie was inevitable, would you have preferred they stuck more closely to your story with the mom being the killer?

VM: You betcha.