Welcome back to this week's look at Heritage's Sunday night movie poster auction! Every week Heritage auctions off some truly unique finds across all movie genres, such as movie serials, animation, science fiction, romance, and more. Each week I find a few gems that could be overlooked! Here are my pics for this week's unique finds!
After accidentally taking pills laced with vampire blood, Dr. Paul Beecher now craves human blood -- but only during his blackouts. This unique twist on an otherwise common horror story, The Vampire was surprisingly popular when it was released. The movie would be renamed Mark of the Vampire when it was released to television -- yet bears no resemblance to the Bela Lugosi film of the same name. The movie is under its original title today and holds up compared to other horror movies of the time.
This unrestored poster is striking. I love the focus on the victim in contrast to the primary colors used for the monster and the background. This is a great poster and deserves to be on display. Heritage notes that this poster is in Fine+ condition. Similar posters tend to sell for under $100, making this an affordable, vintage piece.
The third movie in the popular Universal Studio's Dracula line, this movie features Lon Chaney Jr. as Count Alucard. His take on the Dracula character is certainly fun, but this movie was not one of Universal's best. The story could have gone many different ways but ultimately wound up as another stale sequel to a landmark film. Yet despite that, this is still an important movie in the overall Universal Monster lineup, and deserves to be viewed at least once if you;ve never seen it.
This unrestored window card is a neat find. The card says "Thurs-Fri" on it, possibly indicating to audiences when the movie was to be shown. The use of color on this card is outstanding, with our main protagonist clad in red, a color associated with dominance, romance, and passion. I do find Lon Chaney Jr.'s Alucard behind the heroine to be rather funny -- his facial expression makes it hard to take him seriously. Marketing items for this movie can command serious money, so keep your eyes on this piece.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch isn't the most well-received Halloween movie. Many critics, including Shudder's Joe Bob Briggs, don't acknowledge this as a Halloween movie. Many outright hate this movie. I err on the side that it is, though slasher Michael Myers is noticeably absent in this movie, it's still worth a watch or two if you've never seen it. If you're planning to marathon all of the Halloween movies, I would keep this one in. Due to the poor reception and box office draw of this sequel, Myers was brought back for Halloween 4 (and every other Halloween movie that followed).
This poster is brazenly striking. The minimal use of color only on the ghoul's face is scary and does a good job of creeping onlookers out. It's a shame that this poster is scarier than the entire film. This poster also does not come up for auction often, so expect to see this end around the $500 mark. If you're a horror collector, don't sleep on this item.
