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Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead Opens, Honoring Zombie Rules With a Queer Club Twist

Her debut places a slow-zombie outbreak in a Bushwick drag club to celebrate community through a critique of device addiction.

Overview

  • The film opened in theaters on Oct. 24, with some outlets also reporting same-day streaming availability on Shudder.
  • Romero says she adhered to George A. Romero’s canon—slow shamblers, bite-borne infection and headshots—rejecting “running zombies.”
  • Set over one night in a Brooklyn nightlife venue, the movie favors comedy and musical flair, centering performance, camaraderie and queer joy.
  • Romero and co-writer Erin Judge foreground device addiction as the key message, with nods to information overload, opioids and industry pressures.
  • The cast features Jaquel Spivey, Katy O’Brian, Margaret Cho and Nina West, with a Tom Savini cameo, glam green-and-shimmer zombie makeup and donated props from Greg Nicotero.