Filmmaker’s Tribeca Debut Turns a Brooklyn Drag Rave Into a Glitter-Soaked Battleground
In her feature-length directorial debut, Tina Romero puts a vibrant, LGBTQ+ twist on the zombie genre with Queens of the Dead, a comedy-horror survival romp set in Brooklyn on the eve of an undead uprising, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. As a drag show spirals into chaos and the city locks down, a defiant band of queer partygoers becomes humanity’s last line of defense—armed with defiance, flamboyance, and even a glitter-covered, makeshift shield.
The film will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on June 7.
Romero, daughter of legendary filmmaker George A. Romero, does not attempt to disguise the lineage she comes from. The film includes knowing nods to her father’s work, featuring horror icons like Tom Savini and Dawn of the Dead’s Gaylen Ross, but boldly declares its own identity. In one meta moment, a character proclaims, “This is not a George A. Romero movie,” a line Tina Romero says reflects her pride in carving a new path within the genre.
“I did want this to be a film in which I am paying homage to the world and the monster he created, but I’m also introducing my own voice. It’s very much not a film he would make, but it is using his vocabulary and is playing by his rules. As far as the queer element, on one hand, I just feel like the gays need a zombie film. It’s time that we get to have a big gay zombie movie,” said Romero to Entertainment Weekly.
The cast is a dazzling mix of queer talent and comedy heavyweights that form a “queer Avengers.”. Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding) stars as Dre, a frazzled party promoter trying to salvage a drag-filled warehouse rave on the same night the undead rise. She’s joined by Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls), Nina West (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Tomás Matos (Fire Island), Margaret Cho, Dominique Jackson (Pose), and Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story), among others.
In a gender-bending reversal of horror tropes, Quincy Dunn-Baker plays the “token straight guy,” subverting the genre’s usual dynamic. Riki Lindhome (Knives Out), Shaunette Renée Wilson, Becca Blackwell, Eve Lindley, and drag performer Julie J also round out the ensemble.
Romero’s path to the zombie film was unexpected. Initially interested in reinventing fairy tales like Peter Pan, she gravitated toward horror after crafting a queer, genre-fueled concept that felt both playful and powerful. The shoot itself echoed the spirit of indie horror, with most scenes filmed in a New Jersey warehouse and guerrilla-style sequences shot without permits in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood.
Production was scrappy by design, tapping into the resourcefulness of its cast. Nina West, no stranger to quick-turn costume design from her Drag Race days, brought signature flair to her looks. The final cut even includes a special thank-you to Tom Cruise, who allowed O’Brien a week off from Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning to join the Queens production.
