Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986)

February 19, 2025 1:15 PM

Heavy Metal Parking Lot documents fans tailgating in the parking lot outside the Capital Centre (since demolished) in Landover, Maryland, on May 31, 1986, before a Judas Priest concert.

Trailer, review, review, streaming.

posted by box (10 comments total)

(Previously)
posted by box at 1:58 PM on February 19

are you and growabrain in cahoots

what a time capsule of a doc.. binge it on a weekend, watch it along with Fubar and Hesher
posted by ginger.beef at 3:52 PM on February 19 [2 favorites]

And Neil Diamond Parking Lot.

No cahoots, just saw a FF post about a movie about parking lots, and was surprised to learn there wasn't already a post about this one. (And I really like the part of MeFi that makes themed posts and jokey references to movie titles.)
posted by box at 4:05 PM on February 19 [1 favorite]

Every once in a while this comes up and I have to show it to people, or highlights at least, and it's hard for anyone — myself included — to believe it's real. It is one of those stranger than fiction things and keeps topping itself, so watch all the way through. A precious time capsule.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:39 PM on February 19

This is a really cool time capsule.

Anybody with time to kill could get a similar vibe perusing Internet K-Hole (nsfw), all of which I generally categorize as "sometimes regrettable mostly young white folk antics".
posted by 2N2222 at 6:17 PM on February 19 [2 favorites]

I grew up about a half-hour drive from where this was shot and would have been 14 or 15. Kids like these are the reason I had to keep my head on a swivel my entire childhood and adolescence. I find the movie more grim than anything else.
posted by Ampersand692 at 6:29 PM on February 19 [3 favorites]

I first saw Heavy Metal Parking Lot around the same time I discovered Jesus Christ, Vampire Slayer. Up until then, I had no idea that you could make a movie or documentary on .50 cent budget. I'll never get to make the horror short that I've been writing (in my head), but it makes me happy knowing that I *could*.
posted by yumegari at 8:39 AM on February 20

This may be a fever dream, but I thought I remembered that one of the people interviewed bore a striking resemblance to Supreme Court justice John Roberts. I can't find anyone that looks like him in the movie now. Am I imagining things or did something like that make the rounds when he was nominated? Can't find anything by searching now. In my memory, the footage had a young guy that looked like him wearing a gray or white t-shirt. I could have sworn it was Heavy Metal Parking Lot...
posted by msbrauer at 8:39 AM on February 20

Roberts was born in 1955, so no. Also, no one in his social class would be within 100 yards of that place.
posted by Ampersand692 at 10:14 AM on February 21

If I was going to pick the Supreme Court justice most likely to appear in Heavy Metal Parking Lot, clearly, obviously, it's Brett Kavanaugh.
posted by box at 11:53 AM on February 21 [1 favorite]