They Got You, Barbra

 

I finished Romero's lost film, The Amusement Park (1973) and noticed Night of the Living Dead (1968) was newly available on Shudder, deciding to watch it on this rainy Tuesday evening. At first, I was watching a recording off of a Starz/Encore channel, a less than pristine copy of the film. We had some weather interfere with the satellite signal, so I moved to Shudder at the point where Ben is rushing back to the farmhouse after Tom and Judy recklessly get themselves killed in a gas-layered truck that explodes when fire from a torch hits the gas tank. I have inundated my blog with plenty of posts on this film, but there is one memory I might not have shared about Barbra.

I was watching the film, in color, probably in the late 80s. It was on a VHS tape, a recording that wasn't exactly of great quality. I will always cherish the night, though, because it was on a tape with Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982). I actually watched the third Halloween film, outside the Myers universe, before any of the Michael Myers films. So I wasn't disappointed for that very reason. Maybe that was a good thing, aye? Anyway, I recall always feeling shocked that Barbra was pulled into the frey, by her zombie brother, Johnnie, never to be seen again. I considered that rather horrifying at the time. I was just a kid rather startled that the very first character, who seemed to be a central, very important character, is pulled to her doom, by her brother, as Ben is forced to watch helplessly, barely able to defend himself. Johnnie told her they were coming to get her. And they did!