Jeff Krulik and John Heyn’s Heavy Metal Parking Lot documents a tailgating party prior to a Judas Priest concert in the parking lot outside of the (now gone) Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, on May 31, 1986. It is one of the most beloved and legendary relics of the 80s & 90s VHS trading scene, of which I myself was a participant. It is a low-fi masterpiece, a work of demented genius and one of the funnies things you’ll ever see.
Twenty-years after the film was made, the music rights were sorted out and Heavy Metal Parking Lot was released legitimately for the first time in 2006.
Now, hilariously, one of the most underground things you could possibly get your hands on back in the day, a true holy grail for people who had heard of it, but who had no way of seeing it, unless they knew the right person, has been licensed by the American Express corporation as part of their SnagFilms website. Of all the things to find a corporate sponsor… I guess it shows how far pop culture has come.
In any case, this is one of the best, cleanest versions of the film that I’ve yet seen. Brought to you by American Express, it’s Heavy Metal Parking Lot: