NUMBER 12

Of the new films PollyStaffle.com heard about at the 2008 Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors in Los Angeles, the Unified Pictures release “XII” definitely ranks among the must sees. Written and directed by Michael A. Nickles, “XII” tells the story of Leonard Karlsson Jr. being found guilty and sent to prison for a hideous crime against a minor. In prison, Karlsson is beaten by other prisoners and gets his face disfigured. Ten years after being locked away, Karlsson escapes from lockdown and goes after all 12 jurors from his trial.

Emily Hardy plays Claire Norris, a young waitress in a small-town diner who was on the jury. We met the adorable Emily, who is sort of a cross between Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper of “The Wonder Years”) and Elizabeth Hurley, at Fangoria and here is what she told us.

CCF: Ok, so you were on the jury…

EH: Yeah, I’m the 12th juror. When he gets out of prison he goes after all the jury members one by one, carves their juror numbers into their foreheads in Roman numerals and then cuts their faces off. He does that and then pins them up to little dummy heads in his basement. A bunch of people in prison jumped him and like cut his face and whatnot and so now he’s going to do that to all the people that are responsible for sending him he away.

CCF: So does it start with him coming after you or what exactly?

EH: The movie starts with the first victim and then you start figuring it out. People start dying and we’re like “What’s going on? What do they have in common?” And then we realize, “Oh, we were on the same jury together.” That’s when we know who is going to be next.

CCF: And you play the hero?

EH: Yeah.

CCF: So is this like a strong female Scream Queen role?

EH: Yeah. One of the central themes is you’re stronger than you think. The movie starts out with me and the girl that plays my best friend is trying to get me to be a runner and be all athletic and I’m not. She’s like “You’re stronger than you think.” Then throughout the movie we find out that I am stronger than I think because I’m the only one that survives the bad guy.

CCF: Did they put you through some pretty crazy things making the film?

EH: Yeah. We had a stunt coordinator that was awesome. He took care of everybody and I was never in any danger. But I did work really, really hard. I would get home at night and be all, “What’s this bruise on me?”

CCF: (LOL)

EH: “Where’d that come from?”

CCF: Yeah. Are there any things that the killer does to you that you can reveal that doesn’t give away too much?

EH: He carves my juror number into my forehead.

CCF: Oh, he does that to you.

EH: Yeah, yeah. If you watch the trailer where I walk up to the mirror, you can see the twelve carved into my forehead and he’s getting ready to cut my face off.

CCF: Is this more along the lines of a slasher? Torture porn?

EH: No not at all. If you took away the horror elements, it would be a very character-driven film. It’s very atmospheric and there is an actual story.

CCF: The set up you have here (at Fangoria) seems very graphic and brutal.

EH: It is. But that’s not the point of it.

CCF: So character-driven with some of that thrown in. What about you, are you a big horror fan yourself?

EH: I actually didn’t know very much about the horror genre before I did this film. I prepared by watching horror movies. I tend to be more into atmospheric films like M. Night Shyamalan’s movies. I love “The Orphanage” and films like that. I haven’t really gotten into slashers, but I am becoming more interested in the genre by being in it.

CCF: What were some of the things you watched to gear up for the film?

EH: I tried watching “High Tension” - the French film “Haute Tension.”

CCF: Yeah, good movie.

EH: I got about halfway through and didn’t get a chance to finish it. I haven’t picked it back up yet. It’s scary.

CCF: Yeah, it’s intense.

EH: I got to the point where he is in the bathroom, going down and looking in the stalls to try and find her. That’s the last part I saw.

CCF: So, is this something you had fun with that you definitely would do more of?

EH: Yeah. At this point in my career, I’m still working on building momentum. I did a Hallmark movie (“Though None Go with Me”), I had a guest spot on “Navy NCIS” (“Naval Criminal Investigative Service”), I had a national commercial, plays and smaller projects and whatnot. At this point, anything but porn.

CCF: (LOL)

EH: I’m interested in good stories. So anything that has interesting characters and good stories, I’m not particular to one genre over another.

CCF: What drew you to this film? The whole “stronger than you think you are” theme?

EH: To be honest, what drew me to the role is the fact I booked it. (LOL) If you can get people to hire you, you’ll take it. But then I was very happy to discover it was actually a good story, interesting and it wasn’t just gratuitous.

CCF: All right, well thanks for talking with me.

EH: Sure.

Check the film’s official site at XIItheMovie.com

- CCF, May 2008