QUEENS OF THE DEAD
(director/writer: Tina Romero; screenwriter: Erin Judge; cinematographer: Shannon Madden; editor: Aden Hakimi; music: Blitz/Berlin; cast: Katy O’Brian (Dre), Jaquel Spivey (Sam), Nina West (Ginsey), Tomas Matos (Nico), Jack Haven (Kelsey), Quincy Dunn-Baker (Barry), Cheyenne Jackson (Jimmy), Riki Lindhome (Lizzy), Dominique Jackson (Yasmine), Shaunette Renée Wilson (Tiger), Becca Blackwell (Twiz), Eve Lindley (Jane), Tom Savini (Mayor), Julie J (ZombiQueen), Margaret Cho (Pops), Samora la Perdida (Jax); Runtime: 99; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Matt Miller, Natalie Metzger; IFC Films, Shudder; 2025)
“A low-budget horror comedy with a queer setting.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The directorial debut of Tina Romero, the daughter of “The Night of the Living Dead (1968)” legendary filmmaker, the late George A. Romero, is a low-budget horror comedy with a queer setting. Tina scripts it with Erin Judge.
The silly story is set in a Brooklyn warehouse used as a nightclub, where there’s a party for drag queens that’s invaded by zombies.
The stressed-out DJ of the club, Dre (Katy O’Brian), arranges the drag party and runs into problems that begin when the headliner of the party, the popular glamor star Yasmine (Dominique Jackson), takes another gig. Her replacement is found by Lizzy (Riki Lindhome), Dre’s pregnant wife, a hospital nurse who recruits her co-worker as a replacement, the male nurse Sam (Jaquel Spivey). He was once part of the warehouse gang. Dre worries that he suffers from stage fright.
At the party is Lizzy’s plumber brother Barry (Quincy Dunn-Baker) to fix the stuffed toilets. He’s clueless, straight and right-wing. Also there are the unhappy workers, the reluctant party-goers Kelsey (Jack Haven) and the grouchy Nico (Tomas Matos).
Among the other guests are Margaret Cho and Nina West, who play older queer characters familiar with gay history but have an iffy relationship with the new generation of queers.
In the opening scene, someone referred to as ZombiQueen (Julie J) goes into an empty church and is killed for no reason by a silver-bodied zombie, who shows up at the warehouse drag show to do his zombie thing.
When a bunch of zombies drawn by Dre’s music to party with the queers, violence and comedy blend together. It results in an outrageous campy film that’s more interested in its social commentary, being entertaining and showing off its costumes than in being a scary film.
It played at the Tribeca Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 10/30/2025 GRADE: B-
dennisschwartzreviews.com