How to Make a Monster (1958) director Herbert L. Strock said that the wrong music could ''kill'' a film
"If the music is wrong for the movie, it kills the movie."
Though frequently overlooked, the musical accompaniment to a film is as important as any other element. Music gives a film mood and tone, setting a project up for success. A talented composer can be the difference between a film’s triumph and failure.
With a career spanning roughly 30 years, composer Paul Dunlap had handled more than his fair share of film music. While Dunlap mainly gravitated toward Western films, he also had some experience with horror films, including the 1958 film How to Make a Monster.
“If the music is wrong for the movie, it kills the movie,” the film’s director, Herbert Strock, said during an interview with the Springfield News-Sun. “What he did fit the movie. It really fit the genre.”
Oddly enough, Dunlap had little interest in Hollywood. “My first intention was to be a classical composer,” said Dunlap. “But there was no way I could support my family…I must’ve done something right. I never had an agent.”
Indeed, Dunlap’s success in the industry was impressive.
“Some of the films I did were terrible films,” Dunlap said. "But I tried to write a decent score. No matter how uninteresting the film, I tried to make the music interesting.”
Dunlap admitted that one of the highlights of his career was working with the Three Stooges. Dunlap wrote scores for films like The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962), The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962), and The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963).
“Having done lots of horror films, I loved working with them,” Dunlap said.
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