Austin, Texas student Emily Hagins is just your normal 12 year-old girl, unless you consider her obsession with blood, zombies and all-things horror-related to be out of the ordinary. There is one thing that sets Emily dramatically apart as a pre-teen – she’s making her first feature film. Like most filmmakers who passionately pursue the craft, Emily has no other choice than to write a script and get behind the camera. But still, she’s only 12 and when it comes to things like scheduling actors or considering school-nights and bedtimes, she lacks the management skills. But she’s only 12! That’s where Emily’s supportive, yet often frustrated mother comes in to see her daughter’s dream of making a zombie movie titled Pathogen come to life.
A team of three directors (Justin Johnson, Aaron Marshall and Erik Mauck) spent two years following Emily’s journey to complete her first feature-length movie and made a movie of their own called Zombie Girl. We observe her throughout the process as she writes, casts, shoots, rewrites, edits and then finally debuts the film to a packed audience of cast and crew at the famous Alamo Drafthouse Theater in Austin. The resulting movie may not be the greatest film in the world, but it’s better than anything Uwe Boll has ever made.
Watching young Emily direct a scene with actors is like seeing a close friend perform a dangerous stunt – you are rooting for her and want her to do well and just not hurt herself. At one point she directs a group of adult actors in a boardroom scene as they discuss the ramifications of a horrible virus. Emily actually forgets to say “Cut” as the scene ends and the actors look confused for a moment when mom comes to the rescue by uttering the word. Mom is then teasingly reprimanded by one of the actors who explains that Emily is the director and she’s in charge and only she can say, “Cut!”
The documentary captures both the small and large dramas from effects that won’t work to scheduling homework around shoots. In one difficult scene, Emily must convincingly kill a young actor with the result being his fake disembodied head on the ground. The effect kind of works, but Emily’s dissatisfaction only serves to demonstrate her dedication to her work. The result is an inspiring story for anyone who’s ever thought about making an independent film and the perfect response to any Hollywood blowhard who “talks” about making a movie but never does anything. All you have go say to these film posers is, “Emily Hagins from Austin was only 12 when she made her first feature! What’s holding you up?”
Words by Chris Gore
