Dracula 1931 pressbook brought $15,535, courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Movie memorabilia is sacrosanct among many collectors. And for those horror movie aficionados with plenty of cash director Tod Browning’s 1931 film classic Dracula represents the holy grail in the field.

Dracula Premieres in 1931

Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Helen Chandler, Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan, premiered in New York City on February 12, 1931. Lugosi of course has the title role, appearing as the evil Count Dracula, who leaves his gothic castle in the Carpathian Mountains and takes up residence at Carfax Abbey in England. Here he feeds on the local females until Professor Van Helsing (Sloan) catches him napping in his coffin and drives a wooden stake right through the old boy’s ticker.  

Made at a cost of $355,000, Dracula was both a critical and financial success. “It is difficult to think of anybody who could quite match the performance in the vampire part of Bela Lugosi, even to the faint flavor of foreign speech that fits so neatly,” raved Variety in 1931.   

Original 1931 Dracula Movie Posters

Dracula one sheet movie posters are legendary in the field. They were produced in four different styles: style A (full color with menacing Lugosi), style B (photographic duotone), style C (Dracula’s watchful eyes only) and the highly-coveted style F. Original one sheet Dracula movie posters, measuring the standard 27×41-inches, are exceedingly rare with only a handful of examples surviving the 1931 theatrical release.

The style F one sheet features a color illustration of Dracula towering over a fleeing Renfield on the cargo ship Vesta along with the tagline, “The story of the strangest passion the world has ever known!” One of these surviving gems came up for sale in a 2009 offering at Heritage Auction Galleries, where it fetched an astounding $310,700.

The style B one sheet poster, done in Halloween orange and black and featuring a prominent Bela Lugosi and other cast members fenced in behind a spider’s web, is another super rarity, with only two known copies in existence. It’s valued at $150,000-250,000+.