Released in 1979, Ridley Scott's Alien has come to be regarded as a classic film, and has been widely written about. But how have audiences engaged with it? This book presents the sometimes very surprising results of a major audience research project, exploring how people remember and continue to engage with the film.

Martin Barker is Emeritus Professor at Aberystwyth. He is Joint Editor ofParticipations for the journal of audience and reception studies and has researched and published on a variety of topics including contemporary British racism, media panics and children's comics.Kate Egan is a Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Aberystwyth University. She is the author of Trash or Treasure?: Censorship and the Changing Meanings of the Video Nasties (2007) and The Evil Dead (2011), and co-editor (with Sarah Thomas) of Cult Film Stardom (2012).Tom Phillips is a Tutor in Humanities at the University of East Anglia. He is the co-chair of the international Fan Studies Network, and his work has been published in Cultural Trends, Celebrity Studies and Transformative Works and Cultures.Sarah Ralph is Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Northumbria University. Published in Celebrity Studies, Participations and Critical Studies in Television, her research interests centre on media and cultural consumption, media industries and production, and women and the media.

Preface and Acknowledgements1. The Alien Memories Project2. Remembering a 'Masterpiece'3. Gifting the Alien Experience4. Remembering a First Encounter5. Considering the Chestburster-Choosers: Realism and Repeat Viewing6. Critical ConclusionsBibliographyAppendix The Questionnaire