Bela Lugosi's cape from the original 1931 Dracula is hanging in public view for the first time ever, tucked inside a six-gallery horror exhibition that opened last month at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter costume stands nearby, restrained in a straitjacket on a hand truck with his mask still attached. Between them sits more than a century of film history, from silent-era monsters to modern slashers, all under one roof on Wilshire Boulevard.
The exhibition, called The Horror Show, opened in September at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, located at 6067 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles, according to LAist. It features artifacts, costumes and props spanning more than 100 years of film, and it asks, as LAist reports, why horror films matter so deeply to so many people. The museum itself describes the show as an immersive journey into horror's enormous cultural impact in a press release announcing the opening.
Assistant curator Nicholas Barlow spent more than two years assembling the exhibit alongside senior curator Jessica Niebel, per the same LAist report. Barlow said horror has been around basically since film's inception, and he hopes visitors leave with an appreciation for the filmmakers behind the monsters, not just the creatures themselves. Niebel has made a similar case elsewhere, telling Los Angeles Magazine that “horror has been looked down on and has been dismissed for a long time. And we felt it's really time to celebrate the originality and the deep meaning of horror films.”
Six Chambers, Organized by Theme
Rather than walking visitors through horror chronologically, the show is organized by theme across six galleries covering Gothic, psychological, science, slasher, religion and ghost horror, according to LAist's reporting. The Los Angeles Times similarly describes the exhibition as organized into six themed chambers, drawn from the Academy's own collection and 62 private lenders. The Times reports the show explores more than a century of horror filmmaking, from silent film through contemporary titles.
The Gothic gallery spotlights vampire films running from the 1930s through contemporary titles, with props, costume elements and production-design drawings tied to those films filling out the space, per LAist. That's where Lugosi's cape hangs. The Academy Museum worked with Lugosi's family to obtain and preserve the garment, and the Times notes it marks the first time the restored cape has ever been put on public display. The museum's acquisition was also detailed in a release from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which called the cape one of the exceptional additions to the museum's collection.
Lecter's Restraints and Other Marquee Props
The original Hannibal Lecter costume from 1991's The Silence of the Lambs is displayed restrained in a straitjacket on a hand truck, mask included, LAist reports. The exhibit also includes original elements borrowed from the family of filmmaker Jonathan Demme, who directed that film. The Times adds that the display includes Hopkins' full costume along with his character's restraints, placed among the show's psychological-horror holdings.
Elsewhere in the galleries, the Times catalogs storyboards from The Exorcist, a clapperboard from The Omen and the original Necronomicon prop from Evil Dead II, all housed in the religion-themed chamber. That same gallery examines witchcraft through a feminist lens and spotlights The Exorcist alongside representations of ability and illness, according to LAist. Also on view, per the Times, is an original facehugger prop from 1979's Alien alongside a Xenomorph built for Alien: Romulus.
Horror as a Mirror of Its Moment
The exhibition leans into the idea that horror reflects the anxieties of its time, a framing Niebel offered to Fangoria. Fangoria reports the show explores horror through themes of identity, sexuality, ability, illness, reproduction and the battle over the female body. LAist connects specific films to specific eras in that vein: Rosemary's Baby is framed as addressing reproduction and the battle over the female body in the 1960s, while The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is tied to the Vietnam War and the deindustrialization of America in the 1970s.
The exhibit also credits horror with reshaping the business side of Hollywood, noting that horror films helped move Universal Studios from a smaller studio into a major player during the 1930s, per LAist's reporting. Only one horror film has ever won the Academy Award for best picture — 1991's The Silence of the Lambs — a distinction the Times highlights as part of the genre's uneasy relationship with industry prestige, even as its box-office and cultural footprint have only grown.
Visiting the Exhibit
The Horror Show is scheduled to run through July 25, 2027, giving visitors roughly nine months to catch it. Adult tickets run $25 for those under 62 and $19 for visitors 62 and older, while student tickets with valid ID cost $15, according to LAist. Children 17 and under get in free.
