A new trailer has landed for Queens of the Dead, the feature debut from Tina Romero — daughter of the late George A. Romero, the legendary architect of the modern zombie film. Set over a single night in Brooklyn, the film has already drawn praise for the way Romero honours her father’s legacy while stepping confidently into the genre with a voice that’s unmistakably their own, celebrating community and transformation amidst the chaos.
Co-written by Romero and Erin Judge, the story unfolds at a large warehouse party, where a sudden zombie outbreak disrupts the celebrations and sends a group of drag queens, club kids and frenemies into survival mode. Forced to put aside their personal rivalries, they must rely on their distinct talents and unorthodox resourcefulness to navigate the chaos and defend themselves against a growing horde of the undead.
The cast includes Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls), Tomas Matos (Fire Island), Nina West (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story), Jack Haven (I Saw the TV Glow), Cheyenne Jackson (“American Horror Story”), Dominique Jackson (“American Gods”), and Margaret Cho (Fire Island).
Romero, who “sat on a zombie’s lap before ever meeting a mall Santa,” never thought she’d make a zombie movie until one night DJing a queer party was derailed by a rival promoter, sparking the idea for Queen of the Dead. Reflecting on the tension between authentic queer spaces and corporate events, she said in an interview with Film Inquiry, “It was so interesting to witness the difference between those two kinds of parties, one that’s full of life and heart and magical energy, versus these corporate brand influencer parties that have all the money and absolutely no heart.” When the original promoter asked on social media “when will the queer community stop devouring its own?” Romero realized, “Oh, this could be my entry to the zombie genre,” a world full of “rich, colorful characters and make-it-work energy.”
The film will premiere at a series of festival screenings across the United States this October. It is scheduled to screen at Beyond Fest on Sunday, 5 October, followed by the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival on Thursday, 16 October, and will also feature at NewFest on Saturday, 18 October.
Following its festival run, Queens of the Dead will be released in US cinemas on Friday 24 October, just in time for Halloween.
