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Hot Docs Review: The Ballad of Judas Priest (Sam Dunn, Tom Morello, 2026)

Posted on
30 Apr 2026
by
Paul

If you’re looking for proof of how loved Judas Priest is by metalheads, you need look no further than Heavy Metal Parking Lot, John Heyn and Jeff Krulik’s 1986 doc filmed entirely outside of the parking lot of a Judas Priest show in Landover, Maryland that same year. That parking lot was full of enthusiastic fans, stoked to see their favourite band and raving about how much Priest rules, how much other music like Madonna (“She’s a dick”) or “that punk shit” sucks, and in one retroactively amusing moment, a young woman declaring of Rob Halford, “I’d jump his bones.”

Scenes from Heavy Metal Parking Lot make their way into The Ballad of Judas Priest, Sam Dunn and Tom Morello’s examination of just what it is that makes Judas Priest one of the key bands in all of heavy metal. We’re also treated to plenty of archival footage as well as interviews with all the key players alongside celebrity fans and friends, everyone from Jack Black to Billy Corgan to the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne. Morello acts not just as co-director, but our onscreen guide through this world, conducting interviews and round table discussions as well as sharing his own personal connections to the British metal masters, up to and including his role in finally getting Judas Priest inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

It’s not all about the good times though, as the film does take the time to delve into some of the darker points in the band’s history, including the notorious 1990 trial where they were accused of placing subliminal messages in their music and being responsible for the death of two fans, guitarist Glenn Tipton’s Parkinson’s diagnosis, Halford’s struggles with addiction, and his time having to stay in the closet for many years before finally coming out as a gay man in the 1990s. The main focus of The Ballad of Judas Priest though, is on the cultural significance of Judas Priest as one of the seminal metal bands who helped to pioneer the genre. Or to borrow a line from one of the fans in Heavy Metal Parking Lot, “Priest is number one in heavy metal, man!”

PrevPreviousHot Docs Review: This Is Your Captain Speaking (Nienke Deutz, Digna Van der Put, 2026)

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