New from the vaults: Night Flight's Fourth Anniversary show, featuring a Special Top Ten video countdown from NF’s panel of music experts. Focusing more on the artistry of the filmmaking than the song’s themselves, Night Flight honors videos from The Cars, Art of Noise, Jean-Luc Ponty, Herbie Hancock and more. Little bit of trivia: Night Flight was the first television program to add the names of the Director’s to the music video Chyron.

Created by Chuck Cirino in 1994, this is the pilot for the “Weird America” show, which ultimately became a regular segment inside the greater Weird TV format, which was released a year later. This 30 minute pilot is the blueprint for Cirino’s off-the-grid explorations into the weirdos, subcultures, and outsider art savants that populate the US of A.

High school can be murder. Just ask Paula (Jill Schoelen, The Stepfather). Her overprotective father disappears during a weekend hunting trip. She's being romantically pursued by Brian Woods (Donovan Leitch, The Blob), a creepy classmate who recently graduated from a mental institution. Her jealous jock boyfriend Dwight (Brad Pitt, Moneyball) is looking for any reason to release his juvenile rage. The lecherous school principal Mr. Dante (Roddy McDowall, Fright Night) is after her tight student body, and her friends and teachers are rapidly falling victim to a silent, shadowy mass-murder. As the body count rises, Paula begins to suspect that any one of her reckless suitors could be the twisted killer. But unless she learns his identity soon, her high school education will quickly come to a nasty end.

The anonymous and prolific quartet, the Residents, have remained a fixture in the avant-garde music and art scene for decades, releasing over 60 full-length records. Rejecting individual identities, the group disguises itself for public appearances in giant eyeball masks and tuxedos, avoiding interacting with media and issuing all statements through the “Cryptic Corporation.” For Night Flight’s 40th anniversary The Residents have returned to Night Flight with ‘Duck Stab! Alive!’ a collaboration with video artist John Sanborn that reimagines the outfit’s 1978 album, Duck Stab!

Zola Jesus is the alter ego of Nika Roza Danilova, known for her expressive and powerful voice and dark, atmospheric music. Her latest album Arkhon unleashes her “submerged, stalled pain.”

The first entry in the Decline series sheds a light on Los Angeles’ punk scene of the late 1970s. Featuring interviews and performances by some of the most seminal acts of the era like Black Flag and The Germ, Spheeris’ intimate conversations set the stage for a series that would feature all the highs and lows, as well as few breakfasts, of the bleeding edge of of LA’s music scene.

SMITHEREENS is the story of Wren (Susan Berman), an 19 year old layabout from New Jersey who has come to Manhattan to promote herself to stardom in New York's waning punk music world. With nothing going for her except her audacity, Wren pursues fame by trying to attach herself to a rock band. Featuring Punk giant Richard Hell and evocative music from The Feelies' debut record. Smithereens is the directorial debut of Susan Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan) and was the first American independent film to compete at Cannes.

Punctuated with specially-filmed, dramatic vignettes, Prince and his band bring his Grammy nominated album `Sign 'o' the Times' to life in one of the greatest concert films ever made, capturing Prince at the peak of his musical powers.

D.O.A.: A RIGHT OF PASSAGE is the ground-breaking classic "rockumentary" about the origin of punk rock. Centered around the Sex Pistols 1978 tour of the United States which ended with the group breaking up, the tour was the only one the Pistols played in the United States. Director Lech Kowalski (East of Paradise) followed the band with handheld cameras through the clubs and bars of their seven-city U.S. tour. Mixing this with footage of other contemporary bands, trends in the fashion capitals and punks of all shapes and colors, Kowalski captured a grainy, stained snapshot of the punk movement at its peak (which includes the now famous footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen in bed) along with rare interview and concert footage of the late seventies punk rock music scene. With live performances by the Sex Pistols, The Dead Boys, Generation X (with Billy Idol), The Rich Kids, X-Ray Spex, and Sham 69, along with additional music from The Clash, Iggy Pop, this iconic documentary is now available for the first time ever!

The Men Who Make the Music combines concert footage from DEVO's 1978 tour with music videos and testimonials featuring a vague story about DEVO's rocky relationship with "Big Entertainment."

SMITHEREENS is the story of Wren (Susan Berman), an 19 year old layabout from New Jersey who has come to Manhattan to promote herself to stardom in New York's waning punk music world. With nothing going for her except her audacity, Wren pursues fame by trying to attach herself to a rock band. Featuring Punk giant Richard Hell and evocative music from The Feelies' debut record. Smithereens is the directorial debut of Susan Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan) and was the first American independent film to compete at Cannes.

Reefer Madness is a 1936 American propaganda film revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try marijuana—from a hit and run accident, to manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, hallucinations, and descent into madness due to marijuana addiction. The film was directed by Louis Gasnier and featured a cast of mainly little-known actors.

An evil demon runs a toy store.

“Ultimately, cult movies transcend all categories, and give their audiences something they’ve never seen, but always wanted to," says Night Flight's Pat Prescott towards the end of our 1988 "Cult-O-Rama" episode. "Cult movies appeal with a sense of special community. No matter how warped your vision, you're not alone." This special original episode of Night Flight surveyed a spate of post-modern cult film classics, including Pink Flamingos, Liquid Sky, Eating Raoul and Suburbia. Tonight’s "Cult-O-Rama" episode reminder of Night Flight’s ability to provide a necessary public service of being an invaluable source of discovery discovery for pillars of avant-garde art, music and cinema.

Classic punk rock movie from 1980 starring Richard Hell, illustrating the end of the first wave of New York City punk rock better than other films. Nada (Carole Bouquet), a beautiful French journalist on assignment in New York, records the life and work of up and coming punk rock star, Billy (Richard Hell). Featuring members of the Voidoids and the Ramones. A time capsule from '80's New York City

A wimpy young boy becomes obsessed with gangster films.

A gang of female Skate Boarders and their pet rats terrorize all the boy skate boarders in town. 1986. Starring: Jenny Parker, Karen Kibler, Dana Forrester.

Vince Lombardi High School has quite a reputation: it's the wildest, most rockin' high school around! That is, until a thug of a principal, Miss Togar, comes along and tries to make the school a totalitarian state. With the help of the Ramones, the students of Vince Lombardi battle Miss Togar's iron-fisted rule and take their battle to a truly explosive conclusion!

A hallmark of 1960s radicalism and one of the first major underground films, Robert Downey Sr.'s seminal Putney Swope remains a classic of social satire. After the CEO croaks during a boardroom meeting at a Madison Avenue ad agency, members trying to sabotage each other's chance of winning the top spot each vote for the token black guy, thereby electing Putney Swope. Swope swoops into action, firing them all and replacing them with armed radicals, soul brothers, and sexy red-hot mamas. Re-naming the agency "Truth and Soul," Putney sets about revolutionizing the corporate world of advertising, banning the marketing of products such as cigarettes, alcohol and violent toys. The agency produces raucous, kooky TV spots - offensive, humorous, and, at first, wildly successful. But can "Truth and Soul" last, not only in advertising but within Putney himself?

Fluke Starbucker (Scott Mathews) must learn to master the power of 'The Farce' with help from Artie Deco, 4-Q-2 (Frank Robertson), Princess Anne-Droid (Cindy Furgatch), Ham Salad (Bob Knickerbocker), and the rest of the Red Eye Knights. In 1978 writer / director Ernie Fosselius (former member of 'The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo') created the very first 'Star Wars' parody, HARDWARE WARS. Complete with cardboard sets and visible wires (holding up ships which were various household appliances), the film was shot over four days with a budget of around $8,000. Now, nearly 50 years later, the original version of this classic short that George Lucas called his 'favorite Star Wars parody' (in a 1999 interview on the UK's The Big Breakfast TV show) has been restored in High Definition for a whole new generation of cult movie fans to discover!

Directed by Academy Award-winner Fred Wolf, "The Point" tells the story of Oblio, a round-headed boy living in the land of "Point," where everything and everybody has one. Oblio, along with his trusty dog, Arrow, is banished to the Pointless Forest. The tale is narrated by Ringo Starr and includes songs written and sung by Grammy Award-winner Harry Nilsson.

The infamous reimagining of Alice in Wonderland by surrealist animator Vince Collins. Restored by Mark Toscano at the Academy® Film Archive. NOTE: This video contains flashing images. Viewer Discretion is advised.

John Heyn and Jeff Krulik filmed Judas Priest fans in a concert arena parking lot in suburban Maryland. Thirty years later, Heavy Metal Parking Lot is hailed as one the greatest rock documentaries ever. It’s a definitive cultural touchstone for the 1980s metal scene: spandex, big hair, denim, mullets, muscle cars, and beer. Heavy Metal Parking Lot launched a parking lot genre that continues to resonate today with sequels, screenings, concerts, a reality-TV series, and fan-generated films and art inspired by the 1986 original. Welcome to the World of Heavy Metal Parking Lot. Hell Yeah!

In 1985, SPIN Magazine asked Bob Dylan "What movies do you wish you'd been in?" One of his answers was "I Was a Zombie For the F.B.I," which had aired for the first time on cable TV on "Night Flight" earlier that same year (it was originally offered up with "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" for a cult double-feature). "I Was A Zombie For the F.B.I." is low-budget, black & white sci-fi/serial/adventure film, recreating the early 1950s with lots of deadpan humor and ironic tongues-in-cheek. The plot follows what happens after agents of the F.B.I. get involved with a pair of criminal brothers who've survived an airplane crash, only to uncover a plot by aliens from outer space to conquer Earth by turning human beings in zombies. It had been shot in 1982 and directed by Marius Penczner, who pooled together some of the $4000 prize money he'd won a year earlier for a short film he'd made that had just won an Emmy. Penczner found some more money (the final budget was about $27,000 total) and gave acting and crew parts to students at Memphis State University (now University of Memphis). Within just a few years, he had a career directing music videos -- like ZZ Top's "TV Dinners," which we told you about on the blog recently -- before making commercials for Democratic politicians.

Phil Morrison directed "Tater Tomater" for his NYU Film School Senior Project. It started out as a short skit written by Angus MacLachlan, who like Morrison was a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1979-1980. It then appeared in several comedic revues, and whenever it was performed, Beth Bostic -- who played "Doris," the not-quite-all-there cafeteria worker -- never failed to bring down the house. "Tater Tomater" was screened at a film festival in New York and reviewed -- by Frank Rich in March of 1990 and by Jami Bernard -- in the New York Times. In January of 1992, it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, and before then we believe it made its national broadcast debut on PBS's "American Playhouse," before appearing during the '90s syndication era of "Night Flight."

Tesco Vee of the Meatmen's forgotten cult travelogue arrives on Night Flight Plus tonight! This lost 1988 MTV pilot finds Vee discovering Baltimore's sweaty charms, starting with a debriefing with dangerous young John Waters in his office, and swerving through a lascivious pre-Internet underbelly of strip clubs, wig stores, beer bars, thrift stores, massage parlors, and other sleazy spots.

When director Tony Silver and co-producer Henry Chalfant delivered the broadcast version of their prize-winning film to PBS in 1983, the world received its first full immersion in the phenomenon that had taken over New York City. The urban landscape was physically transformed by graffiti artists who invented a new visual language to express both their individuality, and the voice of their community. In STYLE WARS, New York's ramshackle subway system is their public playground, battleground, and spectacular artistic canvas. As MC's, DJ's and B-boys rock the city with new sounds and new moves, we see street corner breakdance battles turn into performance art.

Frogs in a haunted house and other assorted craziness! With the feeling of a Max Fleischer cartoon and an irresistible score and song by Danny Elfman.

Starring Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace and Richard "DirtyHarry" Hall, ROCKERS is a story of oppressed Jamaican musicians getting even with the "mafia types" in the business. Featuring Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Third World, Peter Tosh, Jacob Miller, Gregory Isaacs, Kiddus I, Junior Murvin. ROCKERS includes acting roles and appearances by Jacob Miller, Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear.