Vampires & Dracula

Some monsters lurch; the vampire glides. Black cape, porcelain skin, a castle on a crag and impeccable manners until midnight. A Dracula poster captures the most elegant figure in horror, one that looks as good in a bedroom as in an old cinema lobby.

From Stoker's novel to the silver screen

The vampire was stalking literature before the Count arrived: John Polidori's 'The Vampyre' appeared in 1819 and Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla' in 1872. Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (1897) fixed the legend, told through letters and diary entries, with a Transylvanian nobleman, a determined Mina and the relentless Van Helsing.

Film gave the myth its faces. F. W. Murnau's 'Nosferatu' (1922) created Count Orlok, bald and clawed, his shadow creeping up a staircase in one of the most copied images in cinema. Bela Lugosi's 1931 Dracula brought the evening dress and the hypnotic stare. Hammer's colour films starring Christopher Lee made the blood unmistakably red, and Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 version turned the story into an opera of costumes, with Eiko Ishioka's designs winning an Oscar. Robert Eggers brought Orlok back in his own 'Nosferatu' at the end of 2024.

Building a wall around a vampire poster

Vampire art lives on four colours: ink black, moon white, blood red and tarnished gold. Keep the rest of the room calm and let those do the work.

• Hang a single moonlit castle above the bed for a quiet, cinematic focal point.
• Run Orlok's shadow across a three-poster wall set, each sheet spaced 3 cm apart, so the silhouette climbs the wall.
• Go romantic with burgundy textiles, flameless candles and Edgar Allan Poe illustrations.
• Keep it playful by mixing in Wednesday and Tim Burton pieces.

The rest of the night is waiting in our Gothic posters. Cash on delivery, garlic optional.