A Zombie Flick Made By – A Twelve-Year-Old?

Dan Barkasi


Yes, it seems like everybody is in on the zombie craze nowadays. Lots of zombie-related material to sift through, and like any medium, you have your gems and your duds. Then you have your stuff that you just didn’t expect. When it comes to the film “Pathogen,” there’s a rather major detail to factor in that sticks in your head. The girl who made it – Emily Hagins – was twelve when she directed the movie. Furthermore, she was ten when the she wrote the film.

I don’t know about you, but it isn’t every day that you see somebody of that age making a film – let alone a zombie-themed one. There’s some real intrigue when it comes to just how she did, and it’s impressive that somebody of such a young disposition actually went through the arduous process of making an independent film and saw it through to the very end.

The trailer for “Pathogen” shows that most of the cast consists of the younger persuasion as well, which is no surprise. The plot revolves around cancer cure research gone horrible wrong, and five kids who are trying to survive the resulting outbreak of zombies.

“Pathogen” looks to be somewhat cheesy and not the best looking movie ever made, but in it could contain the charm. It’s what I’d expect from a no budget film like this made by a complete novice, and that’s just fine and dandy.


Equally as intriguing as the film itself, there was also a documentary made of Hagins two-year journey to make this film, titled “Zombie Girl: The Movie.” The release of that documentary is also to contain “Pathogen” in its entirety. That DVD will be released on November 9.


If anything, both the documentary and the movie itself look to be interesting based of the youth of the creator. Curiosity as to how it turned out, and just how this very driven kid made all of this happen are enough to warrant giving both a shot. It’s a unique angle that hasn’t been explored to this depth until now, and who knows? The movie could be pretty interesting, too!