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Night Flight Plus Review 2023

We spent last week testing the Night Flight Plus streaming service. The app has issues, but we love the massive library, nostalgia fix, and low, low price.

Affordable, delicious nostalgia

Night Flight Plus

Price: $4.99/mo. or $39.99/yr.

Library: 666+ titles

Free trial: 7 days

Data as of post date. Not all offers available in all areas.

Is Night Flight Plus good?

The Night Flight Plus streaming service rules, especially if you’re old enough to recall staying up late in the 1980s to watch Night Flight, the USA Network’s four-hour block of cartoons, cult movies, music videos, artist interviews, and other cool, strange media. Night Flight Plus has all of that content and more, and you can watch it whenever you want for under $5 a month. That’s a steal—and the nostalgia is delicious.

Our only complaints about Night Flight Plus are that there’s no Android app, and the Roku Ultra version of the app basic, and sometimes glitchy. But these issues don’t ruin the overall experience.

Night Flight Plus pros and cons

Pros

  • Affordable pricing
  • Deep, diverse library
  • Delicious nostalgia fix
  • New content weekly

Cons

  • No Android app
  • Buggy Roku Ultra app
  • Non-syncing favorites lists
  • No “Continue Watching” menu

Can’t get enough spooky stuff?

Check out our trivia contest with Full Moon Features, running on our Twitter all of October. Answer horror movie trivia questions to win daily prizes… if you dare.

Night Flight Plus deals and promotions

We couldn’t find any deals on Night Flight Plus—but we’ve seen $1-a-month-for-three-months sales before. That’s a 70%–80% discount on the already affordable regular rates (see next section).

Night Flight Plus also offers a free 7-day trial.

Night Flight plans and pricing

Plan Price Streams Resolution (up to) Details
Night Flight Plus (monthly) $4.99/mo. Unlimited 1080p View plan
Night Flight Plus (yearly)
Saves 33%
$39.99/yr. Unlimited 1080p View plan

Data as of post date. Not all offers available in all areas.

Night Flight Plus is one of the most affordable on-demand streaming TV services, whether or not you go with a monthly or annual subscription.

Pro tip: If you can’t afford a Night Flight Plus subscription right now, you can find a lot of Night Flight Plus content on the free, ad-supported streaming service Tubi.

Night Flight Plus vs. the competition

Service Monthly price Annual price Library size* Streams Resolution (up to) Details
Night Flight Plus $4.99/mo. $39.99/yr. ($3.33/mo., saves 33%) 666+ Unlimited 1080p View Plan
Our pick
Shudder
$5.99/mo. $56.99/yr. ($4.75/mo., saves 21%) 630+ 1 1080p View Plan
Full Moon Features $6.99/mo. $59.99/yr. ($5.00/mo., saves 28%) 500+ 3 1080p View Plan
Arrow Player $6.99/mo. $69.99/yr. ($5.83/mo., saves 17%) 600+ 3 4K View Plan
Screambox $4.99/mo. $35.88/yr ($2.99/mo., saves 40%) 200–300* 3 1080p View Plan
Monsters and Nightmares $2.99/mo. $29.99/yr. ($2.50/mo., saves 17%) 86+ Unavailable 1080p View Plan

Data as of post date. Not all offers available in all areas.
† Estimated.

The Night Flight Plus annual subscription isn’t just affordable, it’s also a tremendous value. Compared to similar streaming TV services, Night Flight Plus has a vast and varied catalog plus something we’ve never seen before—unlimited simultaneous streams—for the lowest price.

But all of the competing services listed above have solid value and affordable pricing. If you want pure horror with classic and new titles, Shudder is the best deal. For pure horror on a budget, Screambox has low-budget horror and some classics (but the app kinda sucks).

For the cream of the cult movie crop, with more stylistic variety (but abundant horror films), we recommend the Arrow Player. And if cheesy schlock is your favorite flavor, allow us to suggest Full Moon Features.

Pro tip: The month-to-month Full Moon Features subscription is a good deal at $6.99 per month, but the $69.99 per year annual subscription saves you 28% and comes with 10 free Full Moon Blu-rays (or the 12-film Puppet Master box set).

Stream all things spooky all the time with #Bloodstream

Night Flight Plus movies and shows

The Night Flight Plus library is deep and diverse. The service doesn’t advertise its library size, and it’s difficult to count because Night Flight Plus treats every clip, cartoon, episode, film, and music video as an individual title. But JustWatch.com says that Night Flight Plus has 666 (hail Satan!) movies and shows.1 That’s more than Shudder and the Arrow Player.

31 days of horror movie recommendations for Night Flight Plus.

Night Flight Plus live channels

Night Flight Plus has two 24/7 live channels—Night Flight TV and Night Flight TVi: Independent Music Video Channel—playing ad-free content from the service’s library.

These channels lack a program guide, playback controls (so no pausing, rewinding, or fast-forwarding), and even on-screen identification of what’s playing. So the channels’ usefulness may seem limited, but we can think of three solid use cases.

  • Stop analysis paralysis: If you like what’s on, relax and let it play. Or search for the program and stream it on demand with full playback control.
  • Background noise: When you’re home alone, create the illusion of companionship with ambient noise from both channels.
  • Top-shelf nostalgic indulgence: Recreate the late-night Night Flight memories of your youth. For maximum nostalgia, you can even call your favorite sleepover buddy from back then.*

* If you haven’t seen this person in a while, maybe do a background check first.

Night Flight Plus original shows

There’s a second way to recapture the original ‘80s Night Flight vibe. Night Flight Plus includes eight “as aired” Night Flight episodes—including the original commercials. How’s that for a nostalgic time warp?

A scene from the full July 15, 1983 episode of Night Flight as viewed on a Samsung QN90A smart TV via the Roku Ultra.

A scene from the full July 15, 1983 episode of Night Flight as viewed on a Samsung QN90A smart TV via the Roku Ultra.

Movies on Night Flight Plus

The original Night Flight series included full-length cult movies spanning various genres: action, comedy, crime, horror, sci-fi, westerns, and more. Accordingly, such films saturate the Night Flight Plus library.

Browsing films on Night Flight Plus is even easier with content hubs from top-shelf studios and boutique Blu-ray labels like Arrow Video, Blue Underground, Church of the Subgenius, Cult Epics, Full Moon Horror, Grindhouse Releasing, Rifftrax, Severin Films, Something Weird, and Vinegar Syndrome. With 11–50 films each, the hubs are a fantastic way to sample each entity’s library.

Pro tip: If you reallyreallyreally love weird movies, check out the Mondo Bundle, one of several themed streaming TV service bundles we created in 9 Streaming Bundles to Replace Cable.

Partial list of movies on Night Flight Plus

  • 42nd Street Memories
  • a/k/a Tommy Chong
  • A Town Called Hell
  • Abar: The First Black Superman
  • Andy Warhol’s Bad
  • Anthropophagous
  • The Baby
  • Bad Girls
  • Bat Woman
  • The Beyond
  • Blackenstein
  • Blood Beat
  • Blood Harvest
  • Bloodthirsty Butchers
  • The Boy in the Plastic Bubble
  • The Boys Next Door
  • The Burning Moon
  • Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
  • Cannibal Ferox
  • Cannibal Holocaust
  • Cat in the Brain
  • Church of the Subgenius Movie
  • Compañeros
  • Cops vs. Thugs
  • Dance Goddess
  • Day of Anger
  • Death Rides a Horse
  • Death Warmed Up
  • Django Kill . . . If You Live, Shoot!
  • Dolemite films
  • Eaten Alive
  • Evil Dead Trap
  • Forbidden Zone: The Director’s Cut
  • Funeral Parade of Roses
  • G-Men from Hell
  • Giuseppe Makes a Movie
  • Gorgo
  • Hellbent
  • Hobgoblins
  • Hollywood Vice Squad
  • I Drink Your Blood
  • I Was a Zombie for the FBI
  • J-Men Forever!
  • Jac Mac & Rad Boy, Go!
  • Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter
  • Killing Birds (Zombie 5)
  • The Legend of the Stardust Brothers
  • Massacre in Dinosaur Valley
  • Mr. Gloom*
  • Mugsy’s Girls (a.k.a. Delta Pi)
  • Mutant Wars
  • The New Barbarians
  • Night Train to Terror
  • Nosferatu in Venice
  • Pieces
  • Private Property
  • Psycho Ape
  • Putney Swope
  • The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves are Here!
  • Robowar
  • Rockers
  • Run Man Run
  • Santa Sangre
  • Savage Dawn
  • The Search for Weng Weng
  • Skinned Deep
  • Society
  • Stagefright
  • Star Time
  • Starlight
  • Style Wars
  • Suburbia
  • Twilight People
  • Unmade Beds
  • The Velocipastor
  • Vice Academy
  • Wall Writers
  • What Were They Thinking?

Data as of post date.

A scene from Wesley Willis: The Daddy of Rock ‘N’ Roll as viewed on a Samsung QN90A smart TV via the Roku Ultra.

A scene from Wesley Willis: The Daddy of Rock ‘N’ Roll as viewed on a Samsung QN90A smart TV via the Roku Ultra.

Concert films and music docs on Night Flight Plus

Music was always integral to Night Flight, and it remains so today with tons of concert films, documentaries, and music videos.

Many of these titles are incredible—but watch out for the service’s many unauthorized music docs (look for “Under the Influence,” “Under Review,” or “Unauthorized” in the titles). These lack the artist’s participation or music, which is disappointing and weird. Fortunately, the good stuff is more abundant.

Partial list of concert films and music documentaries on Night Flight Plus

  • American Hardcore
  • The Best of Flipside Video
  • Betty Davis: They Say I’m Different
  • Gil Scott-Heron: Black Wax
  • Blank Generation
  • The Color of Noise
  • The Colossus of Destiny: A Melvins Tale
  • The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead
  • Dead Kennedys: The Early Years Live
  • The Decline of Western Civilization trilogy
  • Flipside Vol. 1: Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, Dickies, Weirdos
  • From the Back of the Room
  • Guided by Voices—The Electrifying Conclusion
  • Hawaiian Rainbow
  • The Howlin’ Wolf Story
  • Iggy & the Stooges: Live in Detroit
  • L7: Pretend We’re Dead
  • Last of the Mississippi Jukes
  • Lovedolls Superstar
  • Mayor of the Sunset Strip
  • Metalhead Video Magazine
  • Night Flight: Indie Label Profiles*
  • Night Flight TVi: Independent Music Video Channel
  • Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records
  • Prince: Sign O’ the Times
  • The Queers Are Here
  • The Return of Rubén Blades
  • Return of the Living Dead Boys
  • Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980–90)
  • Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus
  • The Specials: 30th Anniversary Tour
  • Take Off to Indie Labels
  • US Festival 1983: Days 1–3
  • Way USA
  • The Weird World of Blowfly
  • Wendy O. Williams & the Plasmatics: 10 Years of Revolutionary Rock & Roll
  • Wesley Willis: The Daddy of Rock ‘N’ Roll
  • Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?)
  • Who Killed Nancy?
  • X: The Unheard Music

Night Flight Plus also includes content hubs for contemporary indie labels like Sub Pop, Mexican Summer, Drag City, Sacred Bones, RVNG Intl., Dais, and Dark Entries. These contain video profiles for the label’s artists, including music videos. (Incidentally, these vids comprise the majority of content on Night Flight TVi.)

Shows on Night Flight Plus

Don’t expect the usual TV series from Night Flight Plus—just enjoy the strange variety. Also, this is pretty much every series on the service.

Complete list of shows on Night Flight Plus

  • AD Police Files
  • Bubblegum Crisis
  • Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future
  • DisinfoCon
  • Disinformation
  • Double Dragon: The Animated Series
  • The Dr. Ruth Show
  • Dynaman
  • Gumby—Everybody’s Favorite Clayboy
  • Jane Fonda’s Workout Tapes
  • Night Flight (8 original as-aired episodes)*
  • Night Flight Slumber Party*
  • Other Side with Zabrecky
  • Tailspin Tommy
  • The Vanishing Shadow
  • The Veil: The Complete Series

Data as of post date.
* Night Flight Plus exclusive.

Night Flight Plus specs and features

We already know that Night Flight Plus has unlimited simultaneous streams, which is outstanding. But let’s see what Night Flight Plus offers regarding simultaneous streams and offline viewing.

Night Flight Plus simultaneous streams

Service Streams
Night Flight Plus Unlimited
Our pick
Shudder
1
Full Moon Features 3
Arrow Player 3
Screambox 3
Monsters and Nightmares Unavailable

Data as of post date.

As we’ve said, we’ve never heard of a streaming TV service with unlimited simultaneous streams. Some services don’t put a number on available streams, so they might not limit them—but only Night Flight Plus is open about it.

Pro tip: By the way, the industry average for simultaneous streams is three.

Night Flight Plus offline viewing

Not to sound greedy, but you’d think that a service with unlimited streams would allow downloads for offline viewing. Alas, Night Flight Plus does not. We’re guessing that this is due to music-licensing red tape.

Night Flight Plus app

On all of the devices we used to test it, the Night Flight Plus app is pretty basic. On the Roku Ultra, the Night Flight Plus home screen has the Night Flight logo sandwiched between a horizontal, five-link menu (top) and 50 carousel menus (bottom).

The Night Flight Plus home screen

The Night Flight Plus home screen as viewed on a Samsung QN90A smart TV via the Roku Ultra.

The Night Flight Plus home screen as viewed on a Windows 10 laptop via the Google Chrome browser

The Night Flight Plus home screen as viewed on a Windows 10 laptop via the Google Chrome browser.

On a Windows 10 PC via the Google Chrome browser, the same menus appear under “Browse,” but they’re on the left-hand side of the screen. To the right of this menu, you can browse every single title, with 87 hyperlinked pages (20 titles per page) that you can sort by name, date added, popularity, and rating.

The Night Flight Plus “Favorites” page as viewed on a Samsung QN90A smart TV via the Roku Ultra.

The Night Flight Plus “Favorites” screen as viewed on a Samsung QN90A smart TV via the Roku Ultra.

The Night Flight Plus “Favorites” page as viewed on a laptop in the Google Chrome browser.

The Night Flight Plus “Favorites” screen as viewed on a Windows 10 laptop via the Google Chrome browser.

Basic design, however, is only one part of the user experience, and the app has some technical issues and other shortcomings:

  • There is no mobile app for Android (but you can use Night Flight Plus on your mobile device’s browser).
  • No subtitles or accessibility features. (Roku Ultra, Apple TV 4K, Google Chrome)
  • Random crashes on the Roku Ultra—we’ve had eight in around two-dozen hours of testing.
  • The “Favorites” (watchlist) page can have long loading times. (Roku Ultra)
  • The “Favorites” layout is one long carousel menu with no sorting options.
  • Favorites don’t sync between devices, so remember this if you tend to create massive watchlists. (Roku Ultra, Apple TV 4K, Google Chrome)
  • Sometimes, while playing a show on an Apple TV 4K, the app won’t let you exit to the home page. Resolving this issue meant forcing the app to stop.

Night Flight Plus supported devices

Device Full Moon Features support
Amazon Fire Cube, Stick, TV
Android phones, tablets No app (browser only)
Android TV
Apple TV (4th gen.)
Apple TV 4K
Chromecast, Chromebook
Echo Show
iPhone, iPad
LG smart TVs (select models)
Nintendo Switch
NVIDIA Shield Pro TV
PC, Mac web browsers
PlayStation 3, 4, 5
Roku devices
Samsung smart TVs (select models)
TiVo Stream
VIZIO smart TVs (select models)
Wii
Xbox One
Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S

Data as of post date.

The Night Flight Plus app supports enough devices that you probably won’t need to buy a new one to use the service.

Some users, however, won’t like that there’s no Night Flight Plus app for Android, gaming consoles, or smart TVs. At least Android users can watch Night Flight Plus on their smartphone or tablet’s web browser. We wish we could say the same for smart TV owners—our Samsung QN90A smart TV’s Internet browser lets us sign in, but it won’t play content.

Night Flight Plus video and audio quality

Night Flight Plus doesn’t list its streaming resolution. Based on our testing, the app appears to adjust quality depending on your internet speed.

We tested the Night Flight Plus app in six different configurations of screens, streaming devices, and internet connections.

Night Flight Plus testing details at a glance

Test Screen (TV, phone, laptop) Streaming device/app platfrom Internet connection Results
Test #1 Samsung QN90A smart TV (2021 model) Roku Ultra Google Fiber 1 Gbps (A) Consistent 720p SD–1080p HD*
Test #2 Samsung UN50 (2012) Roku Ultra Google Fiber 1 Gbps (B) Consistent 720p SD–1080p HD*
Test #3 Hisense 65K560DW (2012) Apple TV 4K Xfinity 300 Mbps Consistent 720p SD–1080p HD*
Test #4 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 smartphone Firefox browser Google Fiber 1 Gbps (A) Consistent 720p SD–1080p HD*
Test #5 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 smartphone Firefox browser T-Mobile 5G mobile data Consistent 720p SD–1080p HD*
Test #6 Lenovo ThinkBook laptop (2021 model) Google Chrome browser (Windows 10 Pro) Google Fiber 1 Gbps (A) Consistent 720p SD–1080p HD*

Data effective as of post date.
* Depending on source material
† Depending on source material and location

In five out of six tests, our picture quality dipped below 1080p HD only when using our mobile data connection on the Samsung smartphone. That’s normal when you’re away from home.

The only other time we experienced a resolution dip was on older movies and shows that stream at their original 720p standard-definition (SD) resolution (also typical).

Jon-Mikl Thor punches a punk in Zombie Nightmare as viewed on a Windows 10 laptop via Google Chrome.

Jon-Mikl Thor punches a punk in Zombie Nightmare as viewed on a Windows 10 laptop via Google Chrome.

Final take: Is Night Flight Plus worth it?

While its app and user experience have issues, Night Flight Plus is a pop-culture aficionado’s dream. It has tons of movies and dozens of TV shows—including as-aired episodes of the original USA Night Flight series. It also includes many clips, cartoons, concert films, music documentaries, and music videos. At only $3.33–$4.99 a month, it’s such a great deal that you almost have to subscribe.

Night Flight Plus FAQ

Is Night Flight Plus any good?

At $3.33–$4.99 a month, Night Flight Plus is an incredible value with 666+ titles, including as-aired Night Flight episodes, short films, feature-length cult movies, concert films, and music documentaries.

How much does Night Flight Plus cost?

A month-to-month Night Flight Plus subscription is $4.99 a month—or you can subscribe for an entire year ($39.99), which works out to $3.33 a month (a 33% discount).

Are there any good movies on Night Flight Plus?

Night Flight Plus has tons of good movies—depending on your definition of “good.” If you’re a fan of cult action, comedy, horror, and sci-fi films, you’ll be quite happy with Night Flight Plus. And if you like music, Night Flight Plus has many concert films and documentaries.

To see a partial—but extensive—list of titles, jump back to the Movies on Night Flight Plus section of this article.

Bloodstream - from CableTV.com

Methodology

Our TV experts have spent hundreds of hours testing Night Flight Plus and other streaming services. For this article, we tested Night Flight Plus on three smart TVs, two streaming devices, one smartphone, one laptop, and four internet connections.

Also, we compared Night Flight Plus to competing services based on pricing, features, libraries, and more to deliver accurate, helpful recommendations to our readers. Check out the CableTV.com “How We Rank” page to learn more about our process.

Endnotes

JustWatch.com, “All Movies and Shows on Night Flight Plus.” Accessed August 26, 2022.

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