The movie taglines that sold cinema history
There's magic in those lines
A great movie tagline does a ridiculous amount of work in very little space. In under ten words, it has to sell you a world, a mood, a genre and ideally make you part with the best part of £15 and two hours of your life.
At their best, taglines become inseparable from the films themselves. You don’t just remember Alien, you remember “In space no one can hear you scream.” You don’t just think of Jaws, you hear “You’ll never go in the water again.” These lines lodge themselves in the cultural memory, long after the popcorn’s gone and the credits have rolled.
Of course, not every tagline is a work of art. For every stroke of marketing genius, there are dozens that are baffling, misleading, or accidentally hilarious. But when it works, when the words, the image and the promise of the film align perfectly, a tagline can be as iconic as a character, a scene or a score.
Before trailers autoplayed on our phones and algorithms decided what we should watch next, the tagline was often the hook. Printed across a poster or VHS box, it had seconds to grab your attention and whisper: this one’s worth your time.
This list celebrates those rare lines that absolutely nailed it. The taglines that transcended marketing, entered everyday language and helped define cinema history, sometimes smarter, sharper and more memorable than the films themselves.
31. Bram Stoker's Dracula
"Love never dies"
30. The Graduate
"This is Benjamin. He's a little worried about his future"
29. Deliverance
"This is the weekend they didn't play golf"
28. Greedy
"Where there's a will, there's a relative"
27. Bonnie & Clyde
"They're young...they're in love...and they kill people"
26. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
"Who will survive and what will be left of them?"
25. The Royal Tenenbaums
"Family isn't a word. It's a sentence"
24. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
"An epic of epic epicness"
23. Contagion
"Nothing spreads like fear"
22. Predator 2
"He's in town with a few days to kill"
21. Finding Dory
"An unforgettable journey she probably won't remember"
20. I Am Legend
"The last man on earth is not alone"
19. Superman
"You'll believe a man can fly"
18. Psycho
"Check in. Unpack. Relax. Take A Shower"
17. Napoleon Dynamite
"He's out to prove he's got nothing to prove"
16. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
"One man's struggle to take it easy"
15. 12 Monkeys
"The future is history"
14. Tommy Boy
"If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards"
13. A Nightmare On Elm Street
"If Nancy doesn't wake up screaming, she won't wake up at all"
12. Alien Vs Predator
"Whoever wins...we lose"
11. Chicken Run
![Chicken Run (2000) - Official Trailer [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/AEOfT7hUcDs/maxresdefault.jpg)
"Escape or die frying"
10. The Thing
"Man is the warmest place to hide"
9. The Fly
"Be afraid. Be very afraid"
8. The Truman Show
"On the air. Unaware"
7. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
"The longer you wait, the harder it gets"
6. Platoon
"The first casualty of war is innocence"
5. Taxi Driver
![TAXI DRIVER [1976] - Official Trailer (HD) - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/T5IligQP7Fo/maxresdefault.jpg)
"On every street in every city, there's a nobody who dreams of being a somebody"
4. The Social Network
![THE SOCIAL NETWORK - Official Trailer [2010] (HD) - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lB95KLmpLR4/maxresdefault.jpg)
"You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies"
3. Jaws 2
"Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water"
2. The Shawshank Redemption
"Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free"
1. Alien
- "In space no one can hear you scream"
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