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Biography: "Harry Manfredini's aural ambitions were fired up at an early point in his development. 'For some strange reason I don't know, ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to write film music,' he recalls. 'That may seem silly, but it's the truth.'
Sidetracked for 20 years working as a jazz saxophonist in his native Chicago (and obtaining two degrees in music along the way), the friendly, bearded Manfredini was not to realize his fantasy until he made a few crucial contacts in New York while studying at Columbia University. Beginning with children's films which he still happily scores to this day, Manfredini moved on to features such as Here Comes the Tigers, subsequent to his fateful meeting with producer Sean Cunnungham. The partnership proved fruitful, and the Cunningham/Manfredini tagteam has persisted throughout much of Manfredini's genre work, evidence of a mutual admiration society in progress. 'There's nothing I wouldn't do for Sean,' Manfredini swears. 'If he wanted me to do a picture for free, I would!'
'Everybody wants to know how I came up with [ki, ki, ki... ma, ma, ma],' Manfredini gleefully grins. 'It's gotta be question number one. Sean Cunningham said, 'Can you use a chorus or something in this picture?' I said, 'Sean, we don't even have enough money for players, much less a chorus, but it would be a great idea,' and that sort of stuck with me. . . Then it came to me: Mrs. Voorhees was a person who heard voices. There was one scene where there was a close-up of just her mouth going, 'Kill her mommy,' and then all at once it switched to little Jason's voice saying, 'Kill her, mommy.' That's the thing that gave me the idea. Most people think I'm going, 'Chh, chh, chh,' but I'm saying the letter k and the letter m - 'ki' for 'kill' and 'ma' for 'mommy,' see? Then I used some various voice processing. That's actually me making that sound into a microphone.'
As he looks ahead to his rosy (perhaps blood red?) future, Harry Manfredini, quick to laugh frequently and heartily, can't resist a little jab of humor. 'I'll be 90 years old and I'll never escape Friday the 13th. They'll be on Friday LXV or something like that. Old Jason will be in a wheelchair. And on my gravestone, it'll say, 'He's the guy who thought up ki, ki, ki.'" - Fangoria #83 (June, 1989)
Composer Filmography
Dead and Gone (2007)
That's Amore! (2007)
Death Without Consent (2006)
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)
All In (2006)
Choker (2005)
The Suspect (2005)
Caught in the Headlights (2004)
Torn Apart (2004)
Endangered Species (2002)
Wolves of Wall Street (2002)
Terminal Invasion (2002)
Bad Karma (2002)
Jason X (2001)
XCU: Extreme Close Up (2001)
Carman: The Champion (2001)
The Omega Code (1999)
Follow Your Heart (1998)
Hidden Agenda (1998)
Wishmaster (1997)
A Gun, a Car, a Blonde (1997)
Raven (1997)
Storybook (1995)
Timemaster (1995)
Dead on Sight (1994)
Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story (1994)
Amore! (1993)
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
My Boyfriend's Back (1993)
House IV (1992)
Kickboxer 3: The Art of War (1992)
Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992)
Double Revenge (1990)
Private War (1990)
Angel of Death (1990)
Cameron's Closet (1989)
The Horror Show (1989)
DeepStar Six (1989)
War of the Worlds (1988)
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Jane B. par Agnès V. (1987)
House II: The Second Story (1987)
Slaughter High (1986)
A Pocket for Corduroy (1986)
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
House (1986)
The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1985)
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Zombie Island Massacre (1984)
Corduroy (1984)
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
The Kirlian Witness (1983)
The Returning (1983)
Spring Break (1983)
Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D (1982)
Swamp Thing (1982)
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
The Children (1980)
Friday the 13th (1980)
Night-Flowers (1979)
Manny's Orphans (1978)
Here Come the Tigers (1978)
Through the Looking Glass (1976)
Where Is He Now?: Harry Manfredini specializes in writing for horror films, but he's also a song writer and jazz soloist. He continues to be very active in film composing, his most recent project being Dead and Gone and That's Amore!.
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