“There Are Such Things:” 20th Century Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy on Screen
21 March - 3 April 2025 • New York
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Your local time • 18:00 PM GMT
Lost to today’s prints, the original 1931 release of Tod Browning’s Dracula included a brief curtain speech performed by Edward Van Sloan as 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, and more, representing some of the most beloved genres in American film history.
Highlights include significant pre-production material from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) and David Lynch's Dune (1984), alongside trademarked material from Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park series as well as an unrivaled collection of horror posters stemming from the Universal Studios “Monsters” era. The exhibition will be open to the public from Saturday, 29 March to Wednesday, 2 April, with the online auction set to close on Thursday, 3 April.
"There Are Such Things" is a celebration of American 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
For all other enquiries please contact:
Cassandra Hatton
Vice Chairman
Global Head of Department & Senior Specialist
Science & Popular Culture
+1 212 894 2342
Chaia Mascall
Associate Cataloguer
Popular Culture
+1 212 894 2344
Emily Olsen
Cataloguer
Science & Popular Culture
+ 1 212 606 7384
Nora Feder-Johnson
Pre-Sale Coordinator
Science & Popular Culture
+1 212 606 7489
Sale number
N11501
Exhibitions
Sat, 29 Mar 25 • 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM EDT
Sun, 30 Mar 25 • 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM EDT
Mon, 31 Mar 25 • 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM EDT
Tue, 1 Apr 25 • 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM EDT
Wed, 2 Apr 25 • 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM EDT
Thu, 3 Apr 25 • 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM EDT