Hardly any 12-year-old girls buy a stuffed animal -  just to rip its belly open with a knife, and make it look like it’s been eaten by a zombie - any except for Emily Hagins.

“I’m not a psycho-killer teen-ager because I made a zombie movie,” said Emily, then 13. “That’s what some people think, like, ‘Do you seriously want to chop off that kid’s head?’ No. I don’t want to kill anybody or anything like that. I’m a vegetarian, a pacifist.”

She’s putting a slight spin on things there. She likes to see blood and guts on the big screen, but like many horror filmmakers, for her, it’s getting it up there that’s the fun part. Emily loves to direct movies. The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy is very close to her heart. She and her mom went to see it over and over again at the theater in Austin where they live. Then out came her first script. By the age of 10 she had a 50-page zombie movie script titled “Pathogen” in her hot little hands. It grew to 90-pages, the length of a feature film.

How in the world was a girl going to make a full-length movie?  Making a film, I would imagine, is like trying to push a boulder up a hill with your bare hands.

But she does it. “Zombie Girl: The Movie,” which makes its U.S. television premiere Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. on The Documentary Channel, documents the terrific journey that Emily and her family take to make the movie.

Her mom helps out the most. She did all of the zombie makeup and lot of the planning, driving and supply buying. She is a graphic artist. Her full-time 9-to-5 job, and Emily’s school schedule, made everything more difficult than they had hoped.

But her dad (he plays the banjo for fun) was there to help too. There’s one moment where, holding a boom microphone and clearly tired, he looks like he wants to chop his own daughter’s head off. Luckily, for the family’s sake, he contains himself and the moment passes.

Oddly, that’s what this zombie documentary is about: the love that family members share, and how it can be testing and how it can be rewarding; relationships that exist between mothers and daughters and fathers and daughters, growing up, and the joy that can come from finishing such a painstaking project.

“As a parent I want Emily to be very happy and proud and don’t want her to be disappointed and be hurt,” her Dad says before the sold-out theatrical premiere of “Pathogen” at the family’s favorite theater in Austin. “But as an artist you create something and you put it out there, it’s a courageous thing that artists do, and we need that and I’m proud that my daughter is joining the ranks of people who have created.”

The extra bonus of “Zombie Girl: The Movie” is Harry Knowles, a fellow resident of Austin and movie fan who runs the popular Web site Ain’t It Cool News. Knowles helps Emily get “Pathogen” off the ground. Before she starts shooting, he set up a summer internship for her with an independent filmmaker in town. Knowles also ends up doing a little voice-over work for the film.

So watch “Zombie Girl: The Movie” and find out what family love is all about and what Knowles thinks is the reason so many people love zombie movies.

By Gregory Crofton

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* You can find Emily’s zombie movie “Pathogen” for sale in the DOCStore .

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*Upcoming Air dates on DISH channel 197 (all times are EST):

Oct. 30th (Fri) at 8pm
Oct. 30th (Fri) at 11pm
Oct. 31st (Sat) at 9:05pm
Nov. 01st (Sun) at 12:05am
Nov. 10th (Tue) at 8pm
Nov. 10th (Tue) at 11pm
Nov. 30th (Mon) at 2:15pm

- times are subject to change, please check our online scheduler for the latest updates here !!

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