Harry Manfredini

Birthday: 25 August 1943, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Film composer Harry Manfredini specialises in writing for horror films, but is also a song writer and jazz soloist. From his haunting dramatic scores for The Friday the 13th films, to his adventurous music for The Omegma Code, Harry Manfredini has established himself as a motion picture music composer of the same style as Bernard Herrmann. Manfredini's works in the film industry began when he joined Sean S. Cunningham for his low budget film Manny's Orphans (1978) in 1978, but it was his haunting score for Paramount's 1980 major motion picture Friday the 13th (1980) that really gave the film its ideal and realistic and suspensful score. Friday the 13th was also directed by Sean Cunningham, and Manfredini continued creating the scores for all the Friday the 13th sequels except for Part 8 which was taken over by Fred Mollin. Manfredini's scores for House (1985), DeepStar Six (1989) and Cameron's Closet (1988) also confirmed his appeal as a popular horror film composer, but he has also composed for adventure, comedy and family films including Spring Break (1983), Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992) and Follow Your Heart (1999). In recent years, he has composed the scores for major motion pictures, including Wes Craven's Wishmaster (1997), The Omega Code (1999) and recently Jason X (2001) for New Line Cinema. Show less «

When you really get into it [composing a film score], it comes to the point where you're sleeping, e...Show more »

When you really get into it [composing a film score], it comes to the point where you're sleeping, eating, showering and doing everything with a picture, constantly thinking about what kinds of sounds to use. It takes up all your time. Show less «

Anybody doing music for films that tells you they're not aware of what Bernard Herrmann did, or how ...Show more »

Anybody doing music for films that tells you they're not aware of what Bernard Herrmann did, or how he wrote, or what he sounds like, is lying off the top of their head. Of course I know what Herrmann sounds like, so believe me, I know when I'm in a Herrmannesque mode. You can't help it sometimes, but one of the reasons is because, damn it, he was right! There are probably a lot of composers who don't imitate Bernard Herrmann, and they're not writing anymore. They're selling insurance in Tacoma. Show less «

For some strange reason I don't know, ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to write film music. T...Show more »

For some strange reason I don't know, ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to write film music. That may seem silly, but it's true. My mother used to let me stay up at night and watch movies, and I was late for school just about every time. I did get to watch a lot of the late movies on television, though, so I guess they just built up. Psycho (1960), Spartacus (1960), all those things -- you can't help but be impressed by the music. Show less «

[on music scores as a way of telling a story] Essentially, that's one of the things I try to do. My ...Show more »

[on music scores as a way of telling a story] Essentially, that's one of the things I try to do. My music tends to be narrative. I want to tell the story with the music. Not that I want to put "ki, ki, ki" in every picture I do, but I try to find either an instrumental color or a particular melodic motif that is very short. Rather than laying out a big long stretch of a theme, sometimes just two notes -- if you can use them properly -- can say everything you need to say, and connect the storytelling. That's Herrmannesque. Show less «

Harry Manfredini

Harry Manfredini's FILMOGRAPHY

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