The trailer is the go-to these days for enticing an audience into seeing a movie, but it hasn't always been this easy to watch the newest trailer releases. It used to be the poster that hooked viewers, and of course the simple but effective strapline. Here are nine of the best film taglines that still stick in our memory many years on.
The Fly (1986) / Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox
1. "Be afraid. Be very afraid." - The Fly
This is most certainly one of those taglines that everybody knows even if they haven't seen the 1986 movie. The line has found itself onto titles of books, and referenced in countless movies and TV shows. It's the purest definition of iconic. It was also a quote in the actual film itself, from Geena Davis' character Ronnie.
2. "In space no one can hear you scream." - Alien
Another highly quoted and, indeed, highly parodied tagline that most people know to come from Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien. The line came from the idea that soundwaves need matter to be able to travel, and since space is without matter, you're on your own.
3. "Who ya gonna call?" - Ghostbusters
There's no doubt as to where this line came from as it's predominant in the famous theme by Ray Parker Jr., Ghostbusters, which reached number one in the US charts. It's so popular, in fact, that "Who ya gonna call?" is not a question you can ask without someone shouting "Ghostbusters!" in response.
4. "There can be only one." - Highlander
This particular tagline is popularly misquoted, perhaps understandably, as "There can only be one" and relates to the idea in Highlander that immortals must kill each other until one remains to receive a mysterious Prize. It lives on in the Queen classic A Kind of Magic which was written for the 1986 movie.
5. "They're back." - Poltergeist II: The Other Side
The best taglines are the most iconic quotes from the movies themselves, and Poltergeist II really jumped on the chilling nature of Heather O'Rourke's "They're here" line in the first movie with the perfect follow-up.
6. "You'll believe a man can fly." - Superman
Given the efforts that went into creating the flying effects for this 1978 movie, this is a rather appropriate tagline. In the end, the film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, so it turns out the audience really did manage to connect with this powerful story.
7. "You don't make 500 million friends without making a few enemies." - The Social Network
The creation of Facebook posed many challenges for Mark Zuckerberg, and indeed he continues to be a figure of controversy so this is likely an appropriate life motto for him. The movie is all about how his success at bringing the world together lost him a lot of friends, and a lot of respect.
8. "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." - Star Wars
More famous as being the first line of the film's opening crawl, this is an iconic line that has been reproduced time and time again. It might sound trite these days, but it's the kind of tagline that's associated with the kind of epic adventure that Star Wars is.
9. "Fear can hold you prisoner, hope can set you free." - Shawshank Redemption
This memorable phrase from the 1994 adaptation of Stephen King's great novel, is one of the more profound taglines of movie history. It builds on what Andy Dufresne says to Red in his letter following his escape from prison; about the importance of hope. If Andy had not hoped he could dig his way out of there and clung on to a fear of what would happen when he reached the outside world, he would never have made it out.
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