QUEENS OF THE DEAD - Mark Reviews Movies

Queens of the Dead, Independent Film Company

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 23, 2025

Zombies and the name Romero go hand in hand, so it's especially nice to see that Queens of the Dead comes from co-writer/director Tina Romero, the daughter of the late George A. Romero. This one kind of continues the legacy of the zombie-movie maestro's long-running series by containing "of the Dead" in the title and not really being related to any of the previous entries. This Romero, though, might have a slightly more optimistic outlook on humanity when it comes to how these characters react to an unexpected apocalypse of the walking undead.

Indeed, this story starts as a relatively grounded hangout story, combined with a putting-on-a-show tale. If not for those pesky zombies, the only drama might have been some last-minute performer cancelations, the need to rely on someone who let this group down in the past, and the usual backstage bickering one expects before a show. Actually, the zombies here don't really put a stop entirely to that stuff. They're just another irritating issue to clear up before, hopefully, the show can go on.

The setting is mostly an old, Brooklyn-based warehouse that now serves as a club. Dre (Katy O'Brian), a still-struggling producer, has plans to put on a big drag show in the space, but things collapse quickly when one of the stars gets a better offer at a party for some cheap-tasting but expensive vodka and no one can contact another performer. A funny prologue of that second act going to church for some pre-show prayer, discovering an unexpected hook-up chance, and getting a real shock when the priest turns out to be a zombie sets the tone here. It's a horror tale, for sure, but Romero has no intention of letting any bloody violence get in the way of the film's humor.

Much of that is in just how little actually changes when the zombies do arrive. We get a fine sense of this little community—from Dre's desire to let all of her performers shine to how, even with the insults thrown around and the big egos on display, the performers themselves are genuinely supportive of each other. It's essentially a makeshift family, which just happens to include some actual family members among them, and for as tongue-in-cheek or flippant as the jokes can be, Romero and co-screenwriter Erin Judge never lose sight of that quality among these characters.

Before the undead show up outside and inside the club, the story is mainly about Dre trying to balance the show she wants to put on with the one that's shaping up to happen, all of the people at the club preparing their act or making sure the building itself is ready for an audience, and former drag performer Sam (Jaquel Spivey) working as an orderly at a local hospital and receiving a surprise call that his old group of colleagues need him for the show. Dre doesn't want Sam around, however, because he got stage fright before a show that could have brought the entire group to the next level of success.

We meet some other characters, too, including show's cast, played by a boisterous collection of real-life drag performers, and Dre's wife Lizzy (Riki Lindhome), who works at the same hospital as Sam and has recently discovered that the couple's plan to have a child has worked. She's pregnant. Dre doesn't know yet, but Lizzy's brother Barry (Quincy Dunn-Baker), a plumber called in to fix a broken toilet at the club, does. He's also on the more conservative side politically, and it's refreshing that screenplay gives the guy the time, space, and reason to grow here, instead of simply dismissing or unceremoniously dispatching him. For all his faults, Barry is family, after all.

Anyway, the zombies arrive. The group shelters in place at the club (Filmmaker and effects artist Tom Savini, who often worked with Romero's father, has a cameo as the mayor), occasionally fending off the undead but mainly hanging out, drinking, and trying to figure out a way to get out of the city. Meanwhile, Lizzy and Jane (Eve Lindley), a transgender woman whom the nurse wants to help, make their way to club, and a crew of survivalists, led by Pops (Margaret Cho), show up with a plan.

It's all quite amusing, with some clever touches that include zombie rats, and, as odd as it may sound with all the conflict—not to mention flesh-eating zombies in need of being violently killed—around, surprisingly sweet, too. Romero doesn't quite have the satirical flourish of the previous entries in her father's series, but to be fair, she's not necessarily attempting to fill those shoes. The filmmaker establishes her own voice within the familiar trappings of her father's legacy, and then again, there are some pointedly satirical moments, including a zombie crowd that has a few of the undead holding up cellphones to record their carnage and a crew of internet pranksters who behave like scavengers in this zombie-filled world.

The biggest surprise of Queens of the Dead, basically, is that it's more a comedy than a work of horror, while also being more of a warm-hearted tale about a small community, ready for hardship together because they have already faced enough of it, banding together to make the best of a terrible situation. It's a lovely tribute to a father's work, obviously, but the film and the next-generation Romero stand enough on their own to do something different with a familiar subgenre.

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