A wise lady in red once said, “Category is: Dance or die.”
That seems to be the mantra for Queens Of The Dead, a star-studded zombie comedy (zom-com?) from filmmaker Tina Romero, the daughter of late horror legend George A. Romero who basically invented the zombie movie as we know it thanks to classics like Night Of The Living Dead.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Here, Tina reanimates her father’s genre of choice and gives it a clever, queer makeover, pitting a group of Brooklyn club kids and drag queens against a growing horde of the brain-hungry undead.
It all goes down at a massive warehouse venue where DJ & party-promoter Dre (Love Lies Bleeding‘s Katy O’Brian) is attempting to throw one last blow-out bash, bringing an eclectic group of friends and frenemies all together under one roof.
Between anxious performer Sam (Mean Girls‘ Jaquel Spivey) who’s hesitant to hit the stage after time away from the spotlight, feuding stars Ginsey (Drag Race‘s Nina West) & Nico (Fire Island‘s Tomás Matos), and the plumbing issue that only her conservative brother-in-law Barry (No Hard Feelings‘ Quincy Dunn-Baker), Dre’s got her hands full.
And that’s before some uninvited guests turn up: Namely, the sickly, silver-skinned ghouls who have a nasty habit of biting her party-goers.
Meanwhile, across town, Dre’s wife Lizzy (Wednesday‘s Riki Lindhome) is a nurse tending to an amnesiac named Jane (National Anthem‘s Eve Lindley), when suddenly the hospital has to deal with a rush of new patients—many of whom are already undead.
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By the way, we haven’t even named half of the LGBTQ+ stars that make up the cast of Queens Of The Dead. There’s also *deep breath*…
I Saw The TV Glow‘s Jack Haven as Dre’s co-worker Kelsey, American Horror Story‘s Cheyenne Jackson as bartender Jimmy, comedy hero Margaret Cho as zombie survivalist Pops, Pose‘s Dominique Jackson as fierce performer Yasmine, plus Jessie‘s Karan Brar, Bros‘ Becca Blackwell, Billions‘ Shaunette Renée Wilson, and New York drag icon Julie J who—from the looks of the trailer—might be one of the first to get zombie-fied.
So, yeah, this ensemble is to die for.
And in a fun cameo, legendary makeup artist Tom Savini—a longtime collaborator of George A. Romero’s—apparently plays the New York City mayor. That’s just one of many ways Tina’s film nods to the legacy of her father, while slashing out a path all her own to tell a story that’s both fun and frighting… and maybe has a few timely things to say about the power of queer community along the way.
Queens Of The Dead had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival back in June and has played a number of fest all over the globe since, next heading to LA’s Beyond Fest on Oct. 5 and then back to NYC for Newfest on Oct. 18. After that, the film will hit select theaters on Oct. 24 courtesy of IFC and Shudder, just in time to make the most of Spooky Season.
Check out the first trailer for Queens Of The Dead below:
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