Director: Jeffrey Abelson
Performer: Alice Cooper

By 1986, Cooper had sobered up and was determined to save his flagging career. After forming a creative partnership with imposing guitarist Kane Roberts and producers Beau Hill and Michael Wagener, he began work on what he hoped would be his comeback record. Once again returning to the outrageous image he had utilised throughout the ’70s (including his trademark eyeliner), Cooper would co-write ten tracks for what would become Constrictor, eventually making its debut on September 22nd 1986. Six weeks earlier, Paramount would release their sixth entry in the Friday the 13th franchise, Jason Lives, which they had also intended to use as a comeback following the financial disappointment of A New Beginning. Sensing the commercial prospect of being involved in a high profile slasher film, Cooper would contribute three songs for the movie; two from his latest LP and one exclusive track, Hard Rock Summer. With tie-in merchandise becoming big business in the wake of Star Wars, many studios had capitalised on their products with ranges of toys, clothes and even lunchboxes. And with MTV now such a major force in America, it was perhaps inevitable that the slasher would eventually break out into music videos as well. Despite Jason Lives‘ Tom McLoughlin expressing enthusiasm at directing the promo, the studio instead opted to hire Jeffrey Abelson, who later shoot another video for a hit movie, the Guns N’ Roses track You Could Be Mine, which was released to coincide with James Cameron’s 1991 blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The video opened with a teenage boy, Jason, pleading with his father (whose face remains unseen) to lend him his car, claiming that he had achieved the grades they had previously agreed on. But the father, noticing that his report card also featured D’s and F’s, refuses the request and suggests that he and his girlfriend walk to the cinema. The doors of the theatre open and the audience begins to pile in, an assortment of goths and punk rockers, many copying the image of Alice Cooper (and one of them carrying the infamous hockey mask). The movie being screened is the latest Friday the 13th flick and Jason finally arrives as the film begins, making his way with his date across the row to an empty seat. Many of the clips shown from Jason Lives play out in chronological order, with the opening sequence showing Tommy Jarvis and fellow institute resident Allen Hawes making their way into a cemetary to find a headstone that reads ‘Jason Voorhees.’ Tommy decides to dig up the grave but suddenly Jason swings towards the camera on a rope, ripping through the cinema screen and tearing off his mask to reveal Alice Cooper.

Jason and his date cower in fear as Alice looms over them whilst singing about ‘The man behind the mask.’ Sitting down on his throne, Alice then begins to warn the viewer about the dangers of skinny dipping late at night, whilst his audience watch petrified. Meanwhile, a montage of clips from the feature film continue, which include shots of the paintball massacre (which featured stuntman Dan Bradley in the role of Jason, who was eventually replaced by C.J. Graham) and the double impalement of lovers Steven and Annette. After attempting to resist Alice’s seduction, Jason and his girlfriend charge the stage and try to escape but as they make their way to the exit a bulking figure in a hockey mask appears and captures them. Alice pulls a lever, forcing a cage down and trapping them, but after taunting them suddenly breaks the lock, allowing them to escape. But, as the crowd leaves the cinema after the show, Alice is pulled back through the movie screen by Jason Voorhees. Back in his father’s office, young Jason admits that he didn’t understand what he had seen whilst watching the movie. Suddenly, his father spins around on his chair to reveal Alice Cooper.

The marketing department certainly felt inspired whilst planning Jason’s big comeback for Friday the 13th Part VI, as the collaboration of both Jason Voorhees and Alice Cooper was ingenious. Both had shocked and disgusted audiences, angered critics and made an impact on popular culture, before suddenly losing their magic and being reduced to mere has-beens. He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask) captured the true spirit of the franchise with both its tongue-in-cheek lyrics and horror-style music. The video itself shared many similarities with the cult Italian flick Dèmoni (aka Demons), released the previous year, which depicted an audience at a late night screening of a horror movie being terrorised by the events on screen. The promo clip received heavy airplay throughout the late ’80s on such rock shows as Headbangers Ball and The Power Hour and resulted in Cooper landing a small but memorable role in John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness in 1987, before once again reaching the top of the charts with his album Trash two years later (which would boast, among others, the smash hit single Poison). The song and video for He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask would not only play a small part in resurrecting the Friday the 13th franchise but would also once again help the slasher film penetrate the mainstream.

Further reading -
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.1 – Friday the 13th (1980)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.2 – Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.3 – Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.4 – Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.5 – Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.6 – Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

Ok, disclaimer done and over with. Now, here is your chance to vote on which composer you think should create music for the ultimate Friday the 13th music. Choose from the list of past Friday the 13th composers that should make a new chapter of Friday the 13th!

 
Fred Mollin (The New Blood, Jason Takes Manhattan)
Fred was working for Paramount on various projects, including the Friday the 13th: The Series show that ran in syndication for a number of years. When Harry Manfredini was unavailable to create a new score for The New Blood, Fred was brought in to supplement some of the stock audio Harry had created for previous Friday’s with his own unique brand of music. When Jason Takes Manhattan was put into production, Fred was brought back due to his ties with the studio as well as a needed new sound to fit Jason leaving Crystal Lake and heading for the big city.

Graeme Revell (Freddy vs Jason)
Graeme has worked on a lot of major Hollywood films, including the Harrison Ford/Jack Ryan movie, Clear and Present Danger, The Bone Collector, starring Denzel Washington and of course Bride of Chucky. When Ronny Yu was hired to direct Freddy vs Jason, it was a no brainer that he would bring Graeme along for the ride after their great working relationship on Bride of Chucky. Graeme score fit perfectly for the film as he added a comic book feel to the film while staying true to the original cues of both the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises.

 
Steve Jablonksi ( Friday the 13th 2024)
Known very well in the video game world for his scores for Modern Warfare and other titles, Steve burst onto the motion picture scene with his score of the 2024 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Since then, he has gone on to score most every movie Platinum Dunes has produced as well as create scrores for the Michael Bay movie, The Island and both Trasformers movies. His score for the Friday the 13th reboot had more of an industrial edge to it and focused on more pulse pounding beats and very minimal instrumental beats.

After the MAJOR success of FEAR JAM at the last FEAR FEST which included FIRSTJASON, THE HORRIFICS, MACABRE, MICHALE GRAVES and EERIE VON, I am glad to report that there will be an even BIGGER & BETTER FEAR JAM at “Friday the 30th” than ever before! FIRSTJASON will perform and host some of the top names in DEATH METAL, GRINDCORE & HORROR PUNK, hopefully OUTDOORS!!!
MANY THANKS FROM CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE!!!

What could be a better? A weekend in Dallas, Texas at a World-Class Horror Convention dedicated to F13, where you can go swimming in a lake with TWO of the Crystal Lake Jasons, have a few rounds of PAINTBALL in the woods with F13′ers, and then ROCK OUT with FIRSTJASON Hosting the finest in HORROR PUNK & DEATH METAL!

Hey People! The theme of “FRIDAY THE 13TH” is what we will celebrate live onstage at FEAR JAM – and that means Maestro Harry Manfredini will be a participant of course. Therefore, let’s all try to come up with bands that are connected to the F13 theme. Now – who is this CAMP KILL YOURSELF? I will look into that, for instance, and WEDNESDAY13 seems to be an obvious choice too. Who else has heard of any bands that have some connection to Friday the 13th? Speak Now – we are on the verge of final selection! Time marches on, and CAMP BLOOD IS COMING!!!

Ari Lehman/Jason The First

I was very pleased with all of the entries we received. There was a lot of work that went into the audio clips that were submitted. It really is amazing how creative everyone can be with the franchise and I was really impressed with what was sent in for the contest.

There were a wide variety of clips sent in. Part 3 was the theme for a lot of entries and I sort of expected it as that has the infamous disco theme. It really did work in all of the submissions as the disco theme has dance and trance elements in it that can be mixed to fit in with today’s modern music. Besides a lot of the film specific entries, there were also a few audio clips that used elements from a number of films in the series.

Thanks again to everyone that participated. Congratulations to the winner! They have been contacted. Listen to the contest winner below as well as some of the other entries that were really just picked at random.

Contest Winner

Other Entries

Thanks to Mark for sharing his interview. Read below to see what Harry had to say about rejoining the franchise and for the full article click on the website link above.

“Were you even approached to be involved with the remake?

I think a lot of fans were asking for me, and I definitely would have done it if someone had asked me. But I think that the powers-that-be felt that it was going to be a whole new Jason. They didn’t even use Kane [Hodder] or the guy from Freddy vs. Jason [Ken Kirzinger]. They used somebody else completely, and they also went with a different composer [Brian Tyler].

Now, I haven’t seen the movie, nor do I know what the music sounds like. I was getting phone calls like crazy when it came out from people saying, “this is all screwed up,” “this doesn’t make any sense,” “Jason doesn’t run,” and whatever else bothered them. And they didn’t seem to like the music at all – at least the hardcore fans. I know there is a big push from a lot of fans to have me back for the new one next year. Like I said, I’d be more than happy to do it. I would have also been happy to do that last one, too! But those are things that are not in my control.”

In order to participate in this contest, you must do the following:
1. Create a Friday the 13th mix audio clip. You must use music that was composed by either Harry Manfredini, Fred Mollin, or Steve Jablonksi from the Friday the 13th films. As an extra creative bonus, you can also throw in audio dialogue excerpts from the films. Be creative. The more creative the mix, the better your chances of winning.

2. Give your audio clip a creative title. It can be anything you like. The more relevant to your audio piece the better. Remember, the more creative the better.

3. Send an email with either a link to your audio clip or an audio clip attachment along with your name and physical mailing address to jason.parker@fridaythe13thfilms.com. Please include “LP Soundtrack Contest” in the Subject line of the email.

Entries will be accepted up to Sunday December 6th. The winner will be announced the following week and their audio mix displayed on the website. If you have any questions send me an email. Good Luck to all and have fun!

The musical is running this weekend, after selling out last weekends shows, and you can find out more about the musical and ticket prices at http://dogstorytheater.com/events/. Good Luck to those involved and if you live in the area go check this out and let us know what you think.

 If you take a look at his previous two efforts in the franchise, many people would agree that they were very weak efforts compared to his previous works in the franchise. I personally liked his Jason Goes To Hell score as it did hold some of the same cues from the original movies, but added an extra action element that was only ever heard in perhaps Jason Lives.  Since we are in full reboot mode, I think that a new composer is a welcome addition to what essentially could be viewed as a new franchise.

Outside of Harry, I did like the industrialized sound of Fred Mollin’s music in Jason Takes Manhattan as it fit with moving Jason out of Crystal Lake and moving towards Manhattan. Steve did a good job for what the remake was trying to accomplish, so I am a fan of that as well. So there you have it, I am all for a return of Harry if is willing and can incorporate his old cues into his work, but I am not at all opposed to Steve coming back and expanding on his great work. What do you all think?

GMW / Dan L. refinished and added a Jason graphic from Friday The 13th on my Jackson Dinky for me. 

I had the people that played Jason sign the front: Betsy Palmer Pt1, Ari Lehman Pt1, Warrington Gillette Pt2, Steve Dash Pt2, Rihcard Brooker Pt3, Ted White Pt4, Tom Morga Pt5, Dick Wieand Pt5, CJ Graham Pt6, Kane Hodder Pt7-10, Ken Kirzinger (FvsJ), Derek Mears (F13 2024)

Everyone else signed the back: Tom Savini, Amy Steel, Adrienne King, Larry Zerner, Lar Park Lincoln, Ron Millikie, Al Magliochetti, John De Lemay, Stu Charno, Dick Warlock. Sean Cunningham, Irwin Keyes, Corey Feldman, Ron Palillo, VC Dupree, Jensen Daggett, Danny, Steinman, Miguel Nunez, Katherine Isabella, Ron Sloan, Corey Feldman.

This guitar was also seen on the Killer Extras DVD that came with the Friday the 13th Box Set. The name plate shown on the will will come with it, and I will also include all the 4×6 photos of guests with this guitar.

If you are interested, the starting price is quite large….. $10,000. He does give the change to counter offer. Why not take a chance and offer him another price, within reason.