“This is not a George Romero movie.” 

Most reviews of “Queens of the Dead”, the 2025 zombie comedy film from Tina Romero set during and in the aftermath of a Brooklyn drag show, will make a point to include this line. It’s natural, of course. Tina Romero is the daughter of George Romero, who popularized the genre of zombie movies with “Night of the Living Dead” and then followed it up with the likes of “Dawn of the Dead” and other explorations of the zombie apocalypse. While “Queens of the Dead” does deal with a zombie apocalypse event and a small group of people trying to survive those harrowing events, the younger Romero takes the genre and spins it for a modern comedic tale that honors the queer community and has fun making concentred critiques towards influencer culture. 

“Queens of the Dead” does not really take a lot of time explaining why this particular zombie apocalypse happens in New York and spreads to the Bushwick portion of Brooklyn. Bits and pieces of the story connect to place the blame on a batch of bad party drugs, thus turning a whole city of club kids into silver skinned walking dead. The how’s and why’s are not really important to Tina Romero in what she is trying to tell with “Queens of the Dead”. She is more interested in focusing on the who’s and their interactions with each other, which is the mark of a good zombie movie. 

The central action of “Queens of the Dead” takes place at Club Yum, a warehouse type bar in Bushwick. Promoter Dre (Katy O’Brian) has a big drag show planned, but things get turned upside down when Yasmine (Dominique Jackson), the show’s headliner, cancels on her at the last minute. This forces Dre to reach out to Sam (Jaquel Spivey), a former performer turned hospital worker, who happens to be working with Dre’s wife Lizzy (Riki Lindhome). The film establishes Dre and Sam had a falling out over Sam getting stage fright during a very important show for Dre. Their simmering history and Sam’s reluctance to perform are running sources of drama throughout “Queens of the Dead”, well those along with the consistent threat of zombies. 

Because this is a zombie film and one done on a modest budget, the film confines the core group of characters to the central location of Club Yum. Joining Dre and Sam are the likes of Barry (Quincy’s Dunn-Baker), Lizzy’s very straight and not that enlightened brother, Nico (Tomás Matos), a drag performer who develops an instant jealousy with the returning Sam, older and motherly drag performer Ginsey (Nina West), bar owner Jimmy (cheyenne Jackson) intern Kelsey (Jack Haven), Kelsey’s much older fiancé “Pops” (Margaret Cho) and Pops’ friends Twiz (Becca Blackwell) and Tiger (Shaunette Renée Wilson). Yasmine even makes an appearance to round out the crew. While some of these characters will not make it because, after all, this is a zombie movie, Tina Romero relishes in exploring their relationships under the pressures of trying to survive, trying to find an escape route, and trying to reconnect with Lizzy and hospital patient Jane (Eve Lindley), who provide the film’s other plot line and perspective. The threat of zombies are no match for the cattiness and drama that erupts when all of these characters are put into close quarters with each other. 

Romero uses the confined setting and rather small cast to have fun with jokes about the zombified nature of influencer culture, New York City club culture as a whole, the fish out of water aspect a character like Barry would have in circumstances like these, and the sheer pettiness some of the characters, such as Sam and Tino, have for each other. A running joke about collegiate women’s sports saving the day at critical moments for the characters is a particular howler that gets better and better with each attempt. Tina Romero also uses this confined setting for some commentary about finding one’s particular community in the chaos of life. Even if someone gets on your last nerve, they can still be there for you in the clutch of a horde of zombies trying to eat your brains. These jokes, these interactions, and these characters all do a well enough job to make up for any of the shortcomings in the film’s storytelling aspect, which starts to show cracks and faults once it gets to the final act and an escape from the bar must be attempted. Tina Romero decides to opt for a “fabulous” and befitting climax for a film based around a community of drag performers. The solution might not be the most anticipated or even the one that makes the most sense, but it allows the characters to shine with an entertaining payoff. A big event, even a zombie apocalypse, needs a headline performance. 

 “Queens of the Dead”, while not perfect, is still a fun and entertaining take on the zombie apocalypse from someone with obviously deep ties to the genre. Tina Romero does an admirable job of taking the genre her father George helped establish and then crafts something of her own with a vibrant and funny tale honoring the queer community. “Queens of the Dead” does try to say some things about why its particular zombie apocalypse is happening, but it is more concerned with the people it is happening to and how they are going to survive it but survive it with each other.

This review is part of my Now Playing series showcasing new releases I watched in a theater setting.

Queens of the Dead
(Tina Romero, 2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2