Heavy Metal Parking Lot

The film Heavy Metal Parking Lot spread like herpes in the ’90s, passed along from inebriated ne’er-do-wells in dark rooms. Nearly 20 years later, this John Heyn/Jeff Krulik film is finally available to the masses in a format other than sixth-generation Beta tape. For those not already infected, HMPL captures the sights, sounds and smells of suburban America getting properly fueled for a 1986 Judas Priest/Dokken concert in Largo, Md. HMPL is one of those films that makes its viewers members of a secret society, able to engage in a cryptic language, spewing film lines back and forth like inebriated apes. As if the 16-minute documentary isn’t enough, the DVD is packed with extras such as sequels (the aborted Monster Truck Parking Lot and the thoroughly depressing Neil Diamond Parking Lot), trailers and, the highlight for me, the filmmakers tracking down original cast members 20 years later (including Zebraman). It’s over two hours of brain-numbing genius that will push you up the evolutionary ladder.