HMPL is
one of the VHS era's unassailable cult classics, although it's hard to
know what that term means since the creation of YouTube and the
evergreen availability of nearly everything. The thrill of discovering a
copy in a friend's tape collection or at a rare DC-area
screening is gone. That the film continues to reward viewers in its
freely available .MP4 incarnation is a testament to its weird goodness,
its good weirdness, and the unscripted enthusiasm of its stars: a
Chaucerian succession of hilarious caterwauling youths. It's hard to
imagine a less cynical group of people. The underage beer-guzzling is as
quaint today as the lines of pristine Mustangs and Firebirds or the
public displays of devotion to Judas Priest, a devotion that remained
unshaken and sincere even after the definitive anti-hagiography that was
1984's This Is Spinal Tap.
Heavy Metal Parking Lot from Jeff Krulik on Vimeo.
