Emily Hagins ('Pathogen')

Emily Hagins made a movie called Pathogen. It's a feature horror film, complete with zombies, an intricate plot, and a terrifying premise. She's gained tons of support from her local Austin filmmaking community, and she's been featured in TeenVogue as an up-and-coming filmmaker. Also, she's only 14. And she's already done what many horror filmmakers will never be able to do: make a good film that people want to see.

A terrible (synthetically created) bacteria is accidentally released into the Austin community's water supply, and the unsuspecting citizens ingest the bacteria. Which causes them to become zombies. It's not a completely original idea, but Emily has some original ways of telling her zombie story...

Poster design for Pathogen, designed by one of the actresses, Tiger Darrow

All the main characters in Pathogen are adolescents. And all of them are directed by Emily, who helmed the entire project. She wrote the screenplay and had completed it in 2004, and Pathogen was a finished project in spring of 2006. The documentary Zombie Girl is a complete recording of Emily's journey as a filmmaker and as a horror director making Pathogen, and should be available in 2007.

The Austin community loves Emily. Her mother, Megan Hagins, is Emily's biggest supporter and fan. With her mother on board, there wasn't anything Emily couldn't accomplish as far as her dreams for Pathogen. And, as the youngest recipient of the Texas Filmmakers Production Fund Grant, she's proven that she's a worthy competitor to the filmmakers twice her age competing for the same grant.

There are disgruntled filmmakers and others who have criticized the fact that Emily has gotten so many acknowledgements from both the press and the local community. This is one case where both her youth and her femininity, they claim, have given her an unfair advantage. They believe that without the support of Harry Knowles (from aintitcool.com) and her financial grant, she's no better than any other kid with a camera.
Is this fair, or is this sour grapes? Only those who see Pathogen will be able to make that assessment.

Emily and her camera, about to film a scene of adolescent zombie terror

How do you feel about the way Pathogen turned out?

I think it turned out well, not at all the way I originally wrote it but I think it turned out better. The first draft I wrote when I was about 11 and it was very unrealistic (for a zombie movie).

Each cast member brought something to their character that really made the movie what it was, and I am very grateful for that.

Why did you choose to make a horror film about zombies?

I was really scared of horror movies before seeing the Australian zombie flick Undead at Butt-Numb-a-thon. Before that I had in mind that I wanted to make a feature film but I didn't know what genre until seeing that. Undead taught me that zombie movies don't have to be serious and scary all the time, and it looked like a lot of fun to make.

Zombie films in the 60's and 70's were about nuclear explosions and a fear of social conformity; in the 80's and 90's zombie films started to blame viruses (like 28 Days Later, and the Dawn of the Dead remake) for the zombie epidemics, because things like AIDS were a much bigger threat than the atomic bomb. Today, terrorism is the major concern to our safety. I felt that many of the plot elements in Pathogen parallel fears of terrorism that we have today. Was your experience of modern "danger" an influence in the Pathogen storyline? Did you consciously think about things like polluted water supply or energy outages being related to terrorism?

That's an interesting question. Someone asked something similar to that at the premiere and my answer to them was to interpret it the way you want, I don't want to tell you how to think.

But if you really want to know, I didn't have the fears of terrorism that are going on today in mind when I wrote it. I wanted to find a way for the virus to spread without it being in the air (mainly because I didn't want to use gasmasks).

You've received a lot of support from your community in Austin. What has being a young filmmaker in Austin been like?

It's been great because a lot of local businesses support local filmmakers and will let filmmakers of all ages use their businesses as long as you are organized and prepared. There is also a lot of very good acting talent here. There are lots of resources and talent here for independent filmmakers of any age. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino are both here working on Grindhouse, Richard Linklater is Austin-based. Having big filmmakers/productions here helps to draw production and post production talent to Austin. The Alamo Drafthouse often sponsors or is a venue for supercool movie events that feature films with filmmakers/cast/ or movie theme events. There are associations such as the Austin Film Society and lots of film festivals.
People are supportive in other ways such as by just showing up and helping out, promoting the films in newspapers and websites, and giving advice when needed.

What recent horror movies do you like or dislike?

This question is perfect since I just came back from Fantastic Fest.
I saw this movie called SEVERENCE, which I think is getting released in the United States in March. It's a lot of fun to watch because it isn't your typical slasher movie where a bunch of late teens or 20-somethings go out into the woods and meet a psycho murderer. I don't want to ruin it but I highly recommend it to the horror fan.

I also saw a movie at Fantastic Fest called INSIDE, but I'm not sure if it's getting distribution or not. It was really scary, but it didn't have tons of gore, ghosts, slashers, zombies, vampires, werewolves, or any of that stuff. It's all about the behavior of real people put in an odd situation that are a little bit off. It's very chilling. Once again I don't want to give too much away.

Emily and her crew filming zombies and their victims in a grocery store scene

How long did it take to film Pathogen, and what did you find was the most difficult obstacle?

Principal photography took only about ten days, not including pick up shots, and an additional scene we shot about two months later. The whole movie took two years to make because of starting over with different lead cast members two times.
The most difficult thing I would say was filming the scene with a huge group of zombies because

1- We didn't have as many zombies as I was hoping for and we had to figure out a way to make it look like there were more than there really were. This was actually a problem that we encountered in a lot of zombie scenes.

2- We had to keep everyone entertained while we were running behind schedule and had to film another scene.

Do you feel comfortable directing your friends? How do you get your young actors to overcome shyness an open up in front of the camera?

I actually lost friends over this project. I originally started out with a cast that was all my friends from school. But over the course of two years we had to start over a couple of times and the cast was changing. Only one of my friends, Alec Herskowitz, stayed with the film the whole time.

Shyness wasn't really a big issue because three of the main cast members had been working on the project for at least a year and were all very comfortable. When the newest cast members joined and we started to set up a schedule and everyone got more serious about the project it didn't take long for everyone to become friends. I know it sounds cheesy but it's true.

Pathogen is about bacteria that spread, causing people to turn into zombies. Where did you get the idea?

When I figured out I was going to make a zombie movie my mom and I were brainstorming ideas but none of them seemed like they'd make a good feature. But one day I was talking with my friend on the phone and she was telling me about a dream she had and it triggered something in my head that helped me come up with the idea.

What will you do next? Do you have any further plans for any horror films?

I plan to make more feature projects, but I can't say anything about the one I'm currently working on.

Keep an eye on Emily at www.cheesynuggets.com and www.zombiegirlthemovie.com, or add her on myspace at www.myspace.com/pathogenmovie