The Manhattan Alien Abduction, directed by Vivienne Perry, is a three-part docuseries about the 1989 alien abduction that was described by Linda Napolitano, who claims she was floated out the window of her lower Manhattan apartment, abducted by aliens and probed. It was the second time she claims she was abducted. Opposing Napolitano’s claim is Carol Rainey, a filmmaker who was married to UFOlogist Budd Hopkins at the time. Hopkins had Napolitano recall her experiences through hypnotherapy and was there to support her when she claims it happened again.
Opening Shot: “On November 30, 1989, a woman claims she was abducted by aliens from her bedroom in Lower Manhattan. Her story has become the most credible and contested alien abduction in recent history.”
The Gist: Both Napolitano and Rainey, who died in 2023, are interviewed for this docuseries, and over the past three-plus decades the former friends have become bitter enemies. They’re both dug in on their respective POVs: Napolitano knows she was abducted more than once by aliens, with a probe inserted in her nose that was evident on an x-ray. Rainey, on the other hand, insists she has plenty of evidence to show that Napolitano is lying about everything.
Via lots of archival footage and interviews with some of the other abductees that Hopkins also studied and counseled, we get a picture of Hopkins’ work. He completely bought into the theory that beings of higher intelligence tag and observe humans on earth the way humans tag and observe wildlife, and it was his life’s mission to find hard evidence that these abductions actually happened. He also hosted support groups — in the house he and Rainey shared, which she documented — where abductees told their stories. Finally, he used regression therapy and hypnosis to get abductees to give detailed accounts.
Ever the skeptic, Rainey talks about going under hypnosis to see if what her husband does was effective. It ended up bringing back memories of her fundamentalist childhood that she hadn’t recalled in many years. And, when Napolitano came to Hopkins after her first abduction, in a wooded area outside the city, Rainey filmed her, becoming fascinated with how this seemingly New York-tough mom and housewife was affected by the incident.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Manhattan Alien Abduction feels like an extended episode of Encounters.
Our Take: Despite all the archival footage and dark-toned reenactments that set the scene for The Manhattan Alien Abduction, the docuseries is essentially two now-senior citizens litigating a decades-old beef via the camera they’re talking into and the producer that’s asking them questions.
That may seem like a criticism, but it’s actually not: We’re here for this bitter battle between Napolitano and Rainey, because they’re both so entrenched in their viewpoints that they will go to their graves thinking they’re right — which has already happened, in the case of Rainey.
Napolitano and the Hopkins estate have sued Netflix and the Rainey estate, looking to block the show from screening. Her claims are that she was misled about Rainey’s participation and that the series defames her in its portrayal of her. We have to wonder, though, if Napolitano just is reacting harshly to seeing her version of the truth on screen, whether it’s the interviews with her now or Rainey’s footage of her 35 years ago.
We couldn’t help but notice that, even after she called Hopkins after her second abduction and he told her to come to his place immediately, she decided to get camera-ready first before leaving her apartment. That certainly feeds our skepticism, as does the histrionics she performs during her hypnosis session with Hopkins.
But Rainey isn’t exactly an objective observer here, which is one of the claims Napolitano has in her lawsuit. Rainey and Hopkins were likely a bad love match to begin with, given his belief in ufology and her ingrained skepticism. But after divorcing Hopkins, it seems like she never moved on from Napolitano’s case and her hold over her ex-husband.
All of this back and forth obscures what Hopkins was able to do to investigate the abduction claims that he fielded and how he tried to bring scientific rigor to these cases. The docuseries discusses this, but it’s more interested in the two women’s bitter battle and the sensationalism that Napolitano’s story generated at the time than examining how serious Hopkins’ work really was.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Scenes from the second episode, which includes Napolitano’s abduction and other craziness.
Sleeper Star: Hopkins’ assistant Peter sports a great hat, but he’s also a much more objective observer of what went on than either Napolitano or Rainey.
Most Pilot-y Line: The reenactments in this show are a little over the top, and not all that necessary, given all of Rainey’s footage of Hopkins and his clients.
Our Call: STREAM IT. The Manhattan Alien Abduction is as much — if not more — about the dispute between Napolitano and Rainey than about a 35-year-old alien abduction claim. And that’s not altogether a bad thing.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.