By Stephen Pytak 

     I'll never forget the day I was flipping through  
soundtrack albums in a Wilkes-Barre, Pa. mall record
store and found this.
     "It's about time," I thought. The third "Friday the
13th" film had just come out. These films were making
money hand over fist and I figured Manfredini's music
would be put out on record sooner or later.
     The cover featured the image on the poster sold
in the theater during Part 3's opening weekend. 
Created by 3D Cosmic Publications, it shows Jason 
swinging an ax through a cabin window. The album
package came with 3D glasses to see the effect.
     The music was a compilation of themes Manfredini
created for "Friday the 13th (1980)," "Part II (1981)"
and "Part III (1982)." It was kind of easy for him to
remaster this stuff, because a lot of music was the same
for all three films.
     He gave the tracks cool names, like "Introduction to
Horror," "Excerpts in Terror" and "Moments of 
Madness."
     The album also featured the "Theme from 'Friday
the 13th, Part 3," by Hot Ice. It's a strange, yet
catchy disco theme. It stood out, kind of the way the
film's visual effects did. While not everyone liked it,
it kind of stuck with me. 
     What's missing here are some of the lighter 
melodies Manfredini created. The one that accompanies
the credits at the end of the original comes to mind. 
That's the only reason I'm not giving this album a gold.
     This album didn't have a proper CD release in the 
U.S. But you can find bootleg copies either on Ebay
or conventions I'm sure.
     I decided to write about "Friday the 13th" music
today because I wish more of it had been released.
"The Final Chapter (1984)" deserved its own 
soundtrack. So did "A New Beginning (1985)" and
"Jason Lives (1986)." The latter did in particular.
     Part VI featured a fresh take on the material 
from Manfredini and great songs by Alice Cooper.
The songs are available on "The Life and Crimes
of Alice Cooper," 1999.
     In 2005, composer Fred Mollin put his tracks
for "Friday the 13th Part VII: A New Blood (1988)" 
and "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes
Manhattan (1989)" on a 1,000 print limited edition
CD. I got mine on Ebay.
     Meanwhile the soundtracks for "Jason Goes to
Hell: The Final Friday (1993)" and "Jason X (2002)"
came out the way a soundtrack should.
     Here's to the future, when I hope we'll see good
releases for some of the lost "Friday" soundtracks.