The Ten Best Movie Taglines

10. “Crime is a Disease. Meet the cure.”
Cobra

This is the representative entry for all of those cheesy yet great macho action movie taglines. The Cobra poster hangs on a vast amount of college dorm walls, probably second only to the poster for Scarface, the most overrated movie in film history. And probably the only reason this poster hangs on so many walls is the tagline and the tagline alone. Great stuff.

9. “Please don’t disturb Evelyn. She already is.”
Mountaintop Motel Massacre

 

The horror movie genre may offer up some of the worst films ever created, but it also creates some of the best taglines. Mountaintop Motel Madness is not a movie many people have heard of and definitely not a critical favourite, but among horror fans it has one of the best taglines in the business.

8. “The longer you wait, the harder it gets.”
40 Year Old Virgin

Ah sexual innuendo, one of society’s favourite forms of comedy. And how better movie to use it than the film which brought bad the raunchy comedy genre with a bang.

7. “Makes Ben-Hur look like an epic.”
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Monty Python has a very unique sense of humour, one which is excellently reflected in this tagline of their most popular film. It combines both irony and self-deprecating humour brilliantly.

6. We are not alone.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Its simple, its provocative, and it hits just the right tone for the movie in only four words. It eludes to the mysterious nature of the film and doesn’t really give much of anything away, and yet it manages to reach for a sense of wonder and a universal scope.

5. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”
Star Wars

This now infamous line, shown at the beginning of each Star Wars film, was a great teaser for the film that would change the industry. It invoked a sense of legend and mythology while also addressing the space opera element. It was a play on the stereotypical fairy tale opening “once Upon a Time” made you immediately think of Star Wars as a modern folktale, which of course it is. A great line to give audiences a taste of the groundbreaking film to come, while at the same time not giving away anything about the movie itself.

4. “A romantic comedy. With zombies.”
Shaun of the Dead

Sometimes a comedic tagline just works so well, it is the driving force which starts the snowball of popularity which happens with cult hits like this one. It still makes me laugh.

3. “They’re young… they’re in love… and they kill people.”
Bonnie and Clyde

This pretty much sums up the movie, yet in such a way as to make it highly intriguing. Come to think of it, this one is quite similar to Shaun of the Dead, it the way it alludes to light-heartedness, then takes that last twist. Most older movies really didn’t have much going for them when it comes to taglines, but Bonnie and Clyde was a diamond in the rough.

2. “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…”
Jaws 2

Sure this sequel may pale dramatically in comparison with the cinematic greatness of its predecessor, but damn does it have a good tagline. Most sequel taglines are highly predictable and unimaginative, along the lines of “They are going on a great adventure… again!”. Jaws 2’s tagline makes it clear that it is for a sequel, but does so with style.

1. “In space, no one can hear you scream.”
Alien

And then there’s Alien. Horrifying and scientifically accurate at the same time. There’s really no other choice for the top spot on this list. Alien’s tagline is widely regarded as the best of all movie plugs, both iconic and brilliant. The film has been around for over 30 years, yet its marketing slogan from 1979 is still fondly remembered by movie buffs everywhere.
Its key is its simplicity. After reading it you will know two things: the film is set in space, and you will scream. This is the golden standard for all tagline writers in the movie industry even to this day.