Twelve year old Emily Hagins of Austin, Texas doesn’t dream of unicorns, boy bands or Hannah Montana.
She dreams of flesh-eating zombies.
So the auteur-in-training decided to make her own zombie film.
Hagins’ quest became the inspiration for “Zombie Girl: The Movie,” debuting at 8 p.m. EST Oct. 30 on The Documentary Channel - with a 9:05 p.m. EST encore telecast Oct. 31.
Hagins’ film is a far cry from those made by Wes Craven or zombie guru George A. Romero. But this pint-sized director’s attempt to replicate her heroes makes for an intriguing look at how filmmaking is becoming accessible to anyone with a camera – and a doting mom with boom mic in hand.
“Zombie Girl’s” protagonist isn’t a Goth queen or surly teenager. She’s a bright sixth grader who loves watching movies with her supportive mom.
She wrote the script for her first film, “Pathogen,” at 10 and started shooting it two years later. She picked the zombie genre because it seemed the easiest way to kick start a film career.
Who doesn’t love a zombie movie, even a cut-rate one?
How adorable is young Hagins? She quotes “Star Wars Episode V” (that’s “The Empire Strikes Back” to non-geeks) as her reasons for making a movie.
“There is no try. Do … or do not,” she says, quoting Yoda.
But Hagins quickly learns how complicated it can be to make a feature film from scratch. She has to hire actors, find props at the local Target and shoot on nights and weekends when school isn’t in session.
Along the way she locks horns with her mother, a graphic designer who ultimately tries to put her own stamp on Hagins’ first film project.
She gets a little help from Austin-based film critic Harry Knowles who encourages Hagins at the request of director Peter Jackson. Hagins had written a letter to the “Lord of the Rings” director, and Jackson figured a fellow Austin resident like Knowles would be the best person to assist her.
And Hagins never seems to lose her cool on the set, not after she erases key footage she shot the day before, nor when she can’t gather enough zombie extras to flesh out a critical sequence.
A snarkier film might have made Mrs. Hagins a villain, and at times the penetrating closeups reveal a parent with some conflicting issues that need to be resolved. But she’s also spending countless hours supporting her daughter’s vision, and that’s something that can’t be overvalued.
“Zombie Girl” could use a trim – some of its 91-minute running time reveals too much about the drudgery of the filmmaking process. And director Justin Johnson should have done more expansive interviews with Hagins’ parents to add another layer of depth and texture to the production.
Still, “Zombie Girl” will resonate with anyone who ever watched a zombie march across the screen and thought, “how hard could it be to make a zombie movie?.”
(Photo: Twelve-year-old Emily Hagins wrote and directed “Pathogen,” a zombie film featured in the new documentary “Zombie Girl.”)
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I get to see this at a festival in two weeks. Can’t wait!! These types of stories always inspire me. Also get to see the UK $70 zombie film Colin and the classic Return of the Living Dead. It’ll be a zombie fest for sure.