It is interesting that in the many, many years I have been blogging I have never really gotten into the days of my youth when my friends and I would make movies. We were late in our teens, bored, and loved movies. Ours were impromptu, ad-lib things that were high on ideas passion and low on everything else. Sure, I still love our movies, and they are fun as heck but really, they are exactly what they seemed to be, fun movies by some weird kids. Such is not the case with Emily Hagins a young filmmaker living in Austin, Texas who at thirteen decides she wants make her first feature film, a zombie movie. Zombie Girl chronicles the young director’s first feature and the trials and tribulations therein.
I found this one streaming online after reading some things about the young director and the movie is absolutely charming. There is very little filmmaker interference here outside of the editing of the film so you get to see how Emily and her mother work together as they bond and fight during the making of Pathogen, Ms. Hagins’ film. Unlike a lot of those horrible exploitation films out there that show the horrors of being a teen and how drugs, and killers, and rapists, and monsters are all around them this is a film that every artistic kid should see. This shows how passion alone won’t get things done but that with perseverance, help, luck, and the help of a lot of people you can do anything. In the end, as much help as she has though this is Emily’s show and it’s truly a credit to her that she sees her film through.
Not only is this a good film for students though, this is another great film for filmmakers, showing that you truly cannot do a project this size alone. Everyone needs help and it’s only by asking for that help that you can get this sort of thing done. From curfews to parental intervention to needing to find extras to be zombies in the movie’s big finale you see it all here, the good, bad, and ugly.
Zombie Girl is a very fun, well made film and sees the project from beginning to end, never letting the talking heads or pundits onboard overshadow the story of a young woman struggling to see her vision through. There are a lot of ‘feel good’ films out there that pander, that pretend, and that give you a world that doesn’t much exist outside of Hollywood but this is a movie that tells a true story, a heartwarming story, and one that anyone who loves movies should see.
8 out of 10
I write books.
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 