The 1958 film Dracula was a fresh look at the Gothic tale, using colour and eroticism along with edge-of-seat horror – all perfectly depicted on the Dracula poster that promoted the movie. Produced by Hammer Film Productions and starring Christopher Lee as Dracula – his debut in the role – and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, the 1958 movie was also the first to depict the Count in colour.
Hammer was coming off the huge success of The Curse of Frankenstein, which had been released by the studio the previous year. A review for the new Dracula movie said at the time: “Of all the ‘Dracula‘ horror pictures thus far produced, this one, made in Britain and photographed in Technicolor, tops them all. Its shock impact is, in fact, so great that it may well be considered as one of the best horror films ever made.”
Realising they were on to a good thing, Hammer followed up with eight sequels, six of which starred Lee and four that featured Cushing. But it’s the poster for their first Dracula that set a new auction record in early March, when it sailed past its estimate of US$20,000-40,000 to sell for US$69,000 (including buyer’s premium of 26%) at Propstore in California. That’s $99,930 in Aussie dollars.
“It’s the most desirable of all the Hammer UK quads,” said Propstore poster director Grey Smith. “We believe that less than a dozen survive.” The poster is made all the rarer because in the US the movie was renamed Horror of Dracula, in order not to be confused with the 1930s movie.
The previous auction record for this poster was set almost two years ago in July 2024, when a copy sold at Heritage Auctions in Dallas for US$38,000.
