Horror film star Michael Villella has died at the age of 84 TMZ.
The actor’s daughter, Chloe Villella, told the newspaper that he died on Saturday afternoon after multiple organ failure. He was in the hospital for the past month.
She also shared a short message about his death on Facebook. “May you rest in peace daddy,” Chloe wrote, alongside a heart emoji.
Her words captioned a photo of a lit candle next to a photo of her father on a white kitchen countertop.
Villella is best known for her role as Russ Thorn in the 1982 cult favorite The Slumber Party Massacre, starring Michelle Michaels and Robin Stille.
Produced by Amy Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown, the plot follows a high school student’s sleepover in Los Angeles, which is disrupted by a killer with a power drill, played by Villella.
He also starred in Love Letters, Wild Orchid II and Gotham.
Fans mourned Villella’s passing online, with many paying tribute to his role in The Slumber Party Massacre.
Horror film star Michael Villella has died at the age of 84, according to TMZ
Pictured: Michael Villella attends Chiller Theater Expo Winter 2017 at Parsippany Hilton on October 27, 2017 in Parsippany, New Jersey
The actor’s daughter, Chloe Villella, confirmed his death. In addition to the above image, she also shared a short message about his death on Facebook
One X user said Villella portrayed “an awesome, underrated villain” in the film.
“His contribution to the horror genre has always been woefully underrated,” someone else agreed.
Villella is best known for her role as Russ Thorn in the 1982 film The Slumber Party Massacre
One Reddit user described Villella as “one of my favorite slasher villains.”
“Okay, that’s it, no more horror icons allowed to die until 2025,” another person wrote on the platform – after Tony Todd, who played the titular serial killer in the Candyman horror franchise, also died on November 6 at the age of 69 .
He died of natural causes at home in Marina Del Rey, LA, according to his representative Jeffrey Goldberg, who said TMZ he had no specific cause of death.
Over the course of four decades in show business, Todd lent his talents to multiple tentpoles, including the Transformers and Final Destination film series.
He also played Commander Kurn of Starship Enterprise in multiple Star Trek shows, including The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.
Todd also enjoyed a varied stage career, including an appearance in the Broadway production of the musical Aida featuring songs by Tim Rice and Elton John.