Official synopsis: A decorated pilot dies pursuing a UFO. Was it an accident, or a shootdown — a “kill” — by a flying saucer? Today, 77 years later, secrets and cover-ups unravel in one of UFO history’s most chilling and legendary cases.
Director Seth Breedlove and his Small Town Monsters crew members have a solid track record, in my book, of crafting high quality documentaries about high strangeness that focus on local lore and residents of the communities where the unusual incidents took place. Lost Contact: UFOs After Wartime, the latest Small Town Monsters feature, raises the bar even higher in that aspect, presenting a well-balanced focus on both the mysteries surrounding the 1948 tragic death of World War II pilot Thomas Mantell Jr. and honoring the life of Mantell as both a family member and a member of the U.S. military.
Interviewees include historians of the odd and unusual, along with a military journalist and others, but the most intriguing reflections come from both members of the Mantell family and eyewitnesses to Mantell’s crash in Kentucky. Breedlove has done a great service to those people and to keeping the memory of Mantell alive.
The research work from Small Town Monsters team members Heather Moser, Breedlove, Mark Matzke, and narrator Aaron Deese is highly impressive. Lost Contact: UFOs After Wartime does a fine job of presenting historical background regarding WWII, the type of plane that Mantell flew, and more as the documentary unfolds.
The UFO “shootdown” controversy is addressed, but the possibility of a government coverup is given more consideration. It is here where the importance of Mantell’s military service is strongly addressed.
There is use of AI — thankfully minimal — to animate historical photos. As someone who personally has an issue with the use of AI in films, this is my main quibble with the otherwise solid documentary.
Overall, Lost Contact: UFOs After Wartime is an engaging documentary that a wide audience should find well worth a watch. As one interviewee says — to paraphrase — some people will hold on to the UFO shootdown theory no matter the evidence presented to them. Breedlove and company do a solid job of presenting a thoughtful look at different possibilities.
Lost Contact: UFOs After Wartime will launch exclusively on streaming platforms, including Prime Video and Vimeo on Demand, on October 7, 2025.
