Original artwork, not a still
Tagline of the 1979 poster and ads, credited to Barbara Gips; never said by a character in Alien (1979).
In space no one can hear you scream.
— Alien • 1979
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It turns a fact of physics into dread: sound needs air, so a scream in a vacuum is silence and nobody will come. It sold a haunted-house film set on a spaceship and became the template for countless 'In X, no one can...' parodies. It is also a classic case of a tagline being remembered as dialogue, so it is routinely misquoted as a line a character says.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for AlienShow the scene
The line is the tagline for Ridley Scott's Alien (1979): it ran on the theatrical poster and ads, and no character speaks it in the film. The poster, designed by Philip Gips, showed a cracked egglike shape oozing green on black. Wikipedia credits the line to Barbara Gips and says it promoted the film from its spring 1979 US previews. The earlier teaser poster and trailer used a different line, 'A word of warning'. The film itself follows the crew of the Nostromo.
Sources (2)
- Wikipedia: Alien (film)Release and receptionReference checked
- Wikiquote: Alien (film)Taglines section and critics quotedReference checked
Context reviewed
