As we reported last month, Tina Romero, daughter of legendary Night of the Living Dead director George A. Romero, is set to direct Queens of the Dead, a queer zom-com horror that Deadline have exclusively revealed more details about today.
Queens of the Dead‘s absolutely stacked cast includes Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), Margaret Cho (Fire Island), Brigette Lundy-Paine (I Saw The TV Glow) and Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story).
Co-written by Romero and Erin Judge, Queens of the Dead:
… pays tribute to the zombies from the elder Romero’s classic zombie films with a fresh, contemporary, and queer twist, promising to offer a genre-smashing, glam-gore thrill ride through the zombie apocalypse. The story follows an eclectic group of drag queens, club kids, and frenemies who must put aside their personal dramas and use their unique skills to combat the brain-thirsty undead when a zombie apocalypse breaks out during their drag show in Brooklyn.
Also starring are Nina West (Rupaul’s Drag Race), Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls), Tomas Matos (Fire Island), Quincy Dunn-Baker (No Hard Feelings), Becca Blackwell (Bros), Shaunette Renée Wilson (Black Panther), Dominique Jackson (Pose), Riki Lindhome (Knives Out), and Eve Lindley (Bros).
In a statement, Romero expressed her excitement for the project (and we have to say we’re right there with her):
“This is the cast of my wildest dreams. In a movie about survival, you gotta love and root for the survival crew. Every single person in this ensemble brings such a special and specific flavor -both on and off screen. The result is truly a magic sauce.”
Deadline also report that Vanishing Angle’s Matthew Lee Miller and Natalie Metzger will serve as the film’s producers.
Any good horror fan worth their salt should need no introduction to the Romero legacy, and it’s hugely exciting seeing Tina take on her father’s mantle following his 2017 passing. As Deadline also so eloquently put it: “Given its focus on the historically disenfranchised LGBTQ+ population, Queens of the Dead should fit in naturally with George A. Romero’s oeuvre, which used a zombie apocalypse to examine social injustice, among many other themes.”
In our previous chat with Ms. Romero, she spoke a little more about how her father’s work influence her own:
“I’m excited to put the Romero zombie in this world — and when I say ‘the Romero zombie,’ it’s sticking to the mythology: slow moving, one bite turns you, got to take out the brain, a little lingering sense of humanity.”
Needless to say, we will be following Queens of the Dead very closely – and bringing you more exciting updates as they roll in.
