'Heavy Metal Parking Lot' Makers To Commemorate Film's 40th Anniversary With Special Screening

On May 31,1986, emerging filmmakers John Heyn and Jeff Krulik drove into the parking lot of the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland — and into pop culture history — when they caught lightning in a bottle recording amped-up JUDAS PRIEST fans before a concert. Nobody could have imagined that 40 years later the resulting short film, "Heavy Metal Parking Lot", would be frequently cited among the greatest rock documentaries ever. On May 31, 2026, 40 years to the day since this much-heralded time capsule was captured on film, in Silver Spring, Maryland will screen — for the first time ever in public — the 60 minutes of original source footage, before the edit. Audiences will experience what was recorded that afternoon, in real time, while both Jeff and John provide live commentary as history is being made. The event will also feature the resulting 16-minute "Heavy Metal Parking Lot", plus a chance to meet some of the stars.

According to Heyn and Krulik, further plans to commemorate this milestone year (and beyond),include a feature documentary on the saga, including a follow-up with the stars, a Kickstarter-driven book project to tie in with a Los Angeles exhibit by Roger Gastman and "Beyond The Streets" gallery (similar to the 30th anniversary at University Of Maryland),a fundraising concert and a script read.

For more information, visit www.heavymetalparkinglot.com.

The concept for "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" was very simple: Krulik and Heyn took a video camera to the parking lot of the Capital Centre in Washington, D.C., and interviewed JUDAS PRIEST fans partying before a show. The result captured heavy metal culture at its peak: what it's like to be young and living in the mostly wasted moment, a beery slice of Americana, and a cinema verite version of reality TV. There is an abundance of mullets, leather, denim, spandex, perms, '70s Camaros and metal 'tude in spades.

"People have a real strong connection with the film," Krulik told The Courier-Journal back in 2004. "They can see themselves in these folks. With 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot' I felt that you were either at that show or sat next to someone in homeroom who went."

In 2008, music journalist Greg Prato asked JUDAS PRIEST members Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing if they had ever seen "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" and if so, what they thought of it. "Yes, I have seen it," Halford said. "It's just a little microcosm of what happens at a metal event even though it's over 20 years old, it still happens today. You can still go to a metal event and everybody's doing what they do in the parking lot in 2008. Simply amazing.

"I think it's great," Tipton added. "Yes, I have seen it. It's classic footage. I don't think it's totally representative of our fans, I have to say. But at the same time, there are a couple of guys on there that should have made it as comedians. Very funny.

"I have seen it," Downing stated. "I didn't see it for years and years, and I saw it, and I think it's great. It's a treasure, it's definitely a treasure."

Asked if he had a favorite scene, Halford said: "Yeah where this girl says she wants to jump my bones. She had no clue," he laughed, referencing the fact that he hadn't yet come out as gay at the time of the filming.

In addition to the original short film, the DVD version of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" features two hours of exclusive content, including commentary by Krulik and Heyn, video sequels from the 2004 Trio TV series "Parking Lot", various outtakes and new interviews with rockers featured in the film.

Former NIRVANA drummer and current FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl said: "'Heavy Metal Parking Lot', 'This Is Spinal Tap' and PANTERA's home videos are basically Rock 'N' Roll 101."

"You didn't necessarily have to go to high school in the 1980s to relate to it," Krulik said.

“The concert experience is a real rite of passage and the people in the film are archetypal fans.”

According to The New York Times, Krulik and Heyn have seen very little money from the documentary, due in part to the fact that they never secured a music license from JUDAS PRIEST or releases from their interview subjects.

"The thing was in the public domain before we even had a remote flicker of a chance to control it or establish a way to make money from it," Krulik told the New York Post back in 2002.

In 2001, Krulik and Heyn wrote a treatment for a feature film based on the video, and were collaborating at the time with New York playwright Gary Winter, who was developing a screenplay from it. The proposed film was described by Heyn at the time as "a really broad comedy that's epic in scope" with a storyline that takes place in 1985, at the height of the PMRC hearings that brought about the "Parental Advisory" music labeling system. However, the film was never picked up.