Children of iconic horror storytellers sometimes keep their lineage under wraps to forge their own path. Author Joe Hill intentionally hid the fact that he was Stephen King for years because he wanted to establish a career based on his own writerly merits. But Tina Romero doesn’t care about that. With Queens of the Dead, her feature debut, Romero fully embraces her father George A. Romero’s legacy with a narrative about an army of undead ghouls surrounding a Brooklyn nightclub during a drag show.
At the same time, Romero’s film is unabashedly her own. She brings an infectious sense of humor and a queer flair to the gory mix (and yes, while Queens is primarily a comedy, it does get quite bloody).
Romero assembled a fantastic ensemble cast to face off against the zombie horde. Leading up the charge is Katy O’Brian, who stole the show in Love Lies Bleeding. She plays Dre, a DJ and promoter who just wants to put on a killer party, but ends up fighting for her livelihood (and then her life).
Across town, her wife Lizzy (Riki Lindhome, Wednesday) escapes her place of work — a hospital swarming with the infected — with a young trans woman (Eve Lindley, Bros) in tow. They have one mission: make it to the bar and reunite with Dre. Rounding out the cast are Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls), Jack Haven (I Saw the TV Glow), Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story), Nina West (RuPaul’s Drag Race), and comedian/queer icon Margaret Cho, here playing a militant survivor with her usual comedic aplomb.
Romero’s script, co-written with comedian Erin Judge, includes a myriad of well-rounded characters. Each comes with a backstory that addresses some aspect of the queer experience. This may be, as Romero herself calls it, a “big gay zombie movie.” There’s an undeniable celebratory party atmosphere to the proceedings, but it also has a tremendous amount of heart. The audience becomes attached to this group of misfits, rooting for their success and lamenting when one of them meets a gruesome end. Romero has a knack for compelling, character-driven storytelling, which she has inherited from her father.
Queens of the Dead wouldn’t live up to its name without at least one drag performance. Romero delivers several, even casting drag as a key survival skill against the undead. The film features a bumping pop soundtrack plus a synth score from Blitz/Berlin. It sounds largely inspired by John Harrison’s work on Day of the Dead. Cinematographer Shannon Madden, a relative newcomer to the field, beautifully captures the vibrant costumes of the drag performers and the garish, but still glamorous, makeup and effects. Flesh-hungry zombies have never looked this good.
Of all the merits Queens of the Dead contains — and there are many — perhaps its most remarkable quality is just how unapologetically and bombastically queer it is. It’s fitting that the film is making the festival rounds during pride month: at a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under attack, films that celebrate all aspects of queer life are much needed, particularly if they party as joyously as Queens of the Dead does.
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