Tribeca 2025 Review: QUEENS OF THE DEAD, A Next Gen Romero Spawns A Drag Zombie Winner

A struggling drag club transforms into ground zero for a group of plucky survivors during a zombie infestation in Tina Romero’s fantastic debut feature, Queens of the Dead.

Dre (Katy O’Brian, Love Lies Bleeding) is desperate. Their drag club had booked one of New York’s hottest queens, Yasmine (Dominique Jackson), in the hopes of drumming some much needed business, but a last-minute cancelation puts them in a tight spot. The house queen, Ginsey (Andrew “Nina West” Levitt) and her catty crew of dancers/wannabes are left to pick up the pieces. That is, unless the prodigal queen Sam/Samoncé (Jaquel Spivey) is willing to return to the life after a panic attack sent them running toward a normal life as a nurse.

Amidst the drama, a viral infection seems to be overtaking the world outside the club’s doors, with random acts of deadly violence being reported across the city. When an affected queen finds her way into the club and starts to dine upon the patrons, it’s all hands on deck with this motley crew of hes, shes, and theys who must now find a way to survive and look fabulous doing it.

If the name Tina Romero sent your Spidey Sense a tingling, you’re onto something, Queens of the Damned’s director is the daughter of the zombie king, George A. Romero. And while it may seem a bit played out to have her first feature dig around in the zombie sandbox, this ain’t your daddy’s zombie movie.

Queens of the Dead is a scrappy, low budget, energetic debut film from the next gen Romero. It’s comedy forward, but not without a healthy dose of commentary about the savage nature of interpersonal relationships in the queer community. Every queer archetype is present and accounted for in the film, and each one is treated with respect and dignity, even in their most undignified moments.

The film spares no one with a cast absolutely stacked with queer pop culture icons and personalities. Along with the above-mentioned leads, Romero introduces the super-straight, manosphere-podcast-addicted brother of Dre, Barry (Quincy Dunn-Baker, Nonnas), as well as Dre’s secretly pregnant nurse wife, Lizzy (Riki Lindhome). Then there’s pillow princess Kelsey (Jack Haven), her butch girlfriend Pops (Margaret Cho), ambitious drag-queen-to-be Nico (Tómas Matos), and a host of other larger than life characters including bartender Jimmy (Cheyenne Jackson) and a welcome cameo from Tom Savini as the mayor in crisis mode.

While on paper Queens of the Dead seems to hew pretty close to last year’s drag vampire comedy Slay, this film isn’t interested in parody, this time it’s for real. Romero and co-writer Erin Judge manage the tricky balancing act of creating a heartfelt apocalyptic comedy without ever sending it over the edge into parody.

Though the film doesn’t tackle the kind of grand societal issues of the elder Romero’s Dead films, Tina Romero is no less interested in investigating the real lives and dramas of these characters and their communities. Token straight Barry is the target of most – but not all – of the film’s pontificating, he’s a good guy who is ready to evolve, but is forced into doing it faster than he previously planned.

If that were all, Queens of the Dead would be a preachy, uninteresting mess. Thankfully, the film also addresses the queer generation gaps and ways in which different age groups have been forced to exist, it also explores the unique struggles of queer relationships in the modern age, while also humanizing characters who seem at first to be little more than live action caricatures. This film could very easily go off the rails with the sermonizing, but Romero and Judge keep it light and relatable, and the actors do a fantastic job rising to the task.

One of my favorite horror comedies of the year, Queens of the Dead is an absolute blast that surprised the hell out of me. Tina Romero proves that she not only has the name, but also the skills to both make her father proud and perhaps someday stand next to him as an important voice for a community in need. This film is a fabulous as they come and is destined to reel in audiences beyond the queer community. Stellar performances, fearless writing, and a can-do attitude put Queens of the Dead at the top of my Tribeca 2025 list.