The Friday the 13th franchise is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion, a convention called Crystal Lake Nightmares was recently held in California, featuring dozens of guests that had a hand in bringing my favorite franchise to the screen. JoBlo’s own Ryan Cultrera was in attendance and had the chance to talk to some of the guests, including composer Harry Manfredini, the man who provided the music for most of the movies in the franchise and the creator of that iconic “Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma” sound effect. You can find out what Manfredini had to say about his work on the franchise in the video embedded above.
Manfredini composed the scores for Friday the 13th (1980), Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), Friday the 13th Part III (1982), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), and Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986), before passing the baton and some of his music tracks over to Fred Mollin, who was the composer on the seventh and eighth films. Manfredini circled back to the franchise to provide the music for Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) and Jason X (2001), as well as the 2017 video game and the 2013 documentary Crystal Lake Memories.
Outside of the Friday the 13th franchise, Manfredini’s music can be heard in the likes of The Children (1980), Wes Craven’s Swamp Thing (1982), The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984), Slaughter High (1985), House (1985), House II: The Second Story (1987), DeepStar Six (1989), House III: The Horror Show (1989), Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992), House IV (1992), Kickboxer 3: The Art of War (1992), My Boyfriend’s Back (1993), Wishmaster (1997), Terminal Invasion (2002), multiple 1313 movies, Morgan: Killer Doll, Jurassic Reborn, and much more.
If you’re a fan of ’80s horror, you’ve probably heard a lot of his music. I watch the Friday the 13th movies so often, his music is practically the soundtrack of my life.
Are you a fan of Harry Manfredini’s work? Take a look at our interview with the composer, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
