Lost to today’s prints, the original 1931 release of Tod Browning’s Dracula included a brief curtain speech performed by Edward Van Sloan’s Professor Van Helsing that ends with:

“Just pull yourself together and remember that, after all, there are such things.”

An ironic inversion of early cinema’s standard inclusion of post-narrative epilogues designed to ensure audiences that the images on screen were just for fun, Dracula was the first American film to itself suggest that genre cinema be taken seriously.

Almost a century after Van Helsing’s whispered aside, Sotheby’s is thrilled to present “There Are Such Things:” 20th Century Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy on Screen. A tightly curated offering of artifacts circa the early 1930s on through the end of the century, this April’s capsule sale brings together rare and fresh-to-market costumes, props, posters, concept art, archival material, and more, representing some of the most beloved genres in film history.

“There Are Such Things” will include a selection from the estate of Hollywood’s ‘Creature King’ Carlo Rambaldi, three-time Academy Award Winner and pioneer of film animatronics and practical special effects. Directly from the estate of the Italian artist, this auction will offer production-used items from Rambaldi’s work on E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Dune (1984), and Rex: A Dinosaur’s Story.

Additional highlights include significant pre-production material and concept art from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (1990), and David Lynch's Dune (1984). This is alongside screen-used props from Labyrinth (1986) and trademarked material from Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park franchise. “There Are Such Things” also features an unrivaled collection of classic Universal Studios horror posters from their “Monsters” era, and screen-used costumes from The Wizard of Oz (1939).

 The exhibition will be open to the public from Saturday, 29 March to Thursday, 3 April at 2:00PM ET, with the online auction set to close on Thursday, 3 April.

"There Are Such Things" is a celebration of cinema’s exploration of what might be possible—in our world, and the next.

For assistance with bidding and registration, please contact:

+1 212 606 7000

enquiries@sothebys.com

For all other enquiries please contact:

Cassandra Hatton

Vice Chairman

Global Head of Department & Senior Specialist

Science & Popular Culture

+1 212 894 2342

cassandra.hatton@sothebys.com

Chaia Mascall

Associate Cataloguer

Popular Culture

+1 212 894 2344

chaia.mascall@sothebys.com

Emily Olsen

Cataloguer

Science & Popular Culture

+ 1 212 606 7384

emily.olsen@sothebys.com

Nora Feder-Johnson

Pre-Sale Coordinator

Science & Popular Culture

+1 212 606 7489

nora.federjohnson@sothebys.com