As you may have heard, tonight the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring is hosting a 25th anniversary screening of Jeff Krulik and John Heyn‘s Heavy Metal Parking Lot. The film has taken a long, roundabout route to the big screen: Though it was shot in 1986, the cult classic mostly circulated as a bootleg until a limited theatrical run in 2003 and an official DVD release in 2006. The ridiculous documentation of obsessive fandom didn’t end with the metalheads outside a Judas Priest concert. The makers of the original went on to create a few more in the “Parking Lot” series (including Harry Potter Parking Lot, if you can find it), and other filmmakers aped the idea. Here are a few highlights:

The first follow up in the “Parking Lot” series was the equally ridiculous, Redneck-friendly Monster Truck Parking Lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENLBWRpRYU4

A decade or so after Heavy Metal Parking Lot, the filmmakers returned to the venue for Neil Diamond Parking Lot.

Not by Krulik or Heyn, but in the same spirit, Raver Bathroom highlights the ecstasy-fueled, hyper-sexual culture at a Toronto rave in ’99.