Queens of the Dead Trailer Drops: George A. Romero’s Daughter Unleashes Zombie Mayhem in Theatres This Halloween
Zombie royalty rises as Tina Romero, daughter of George A. Romero, drops the first trailer for Queens of the Dead, shambling into theaters just in time for Halloween.
Romero zombies are back in the family. Tina Romero — yes, George A. Romero's daughter — has made her feature debut with a Bushwick-set, drag-fueled undead thriller called 'Queens of the Dead.' It premiered a few months ago at Tribeca and walked away with the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film. Now it hits theaters October 24, just in time for Halloween, and the first trailer is out.
What is it?
The movie takes place on night one of the outbreak. A warehouse party in Bushwick goes sideways when the dead start getting up, and the promoter's headliner bails. Her Hail Mary: convince a retired drag queen to return to the stage and keep the night alive — which quickly turns into a different kind of survival show. As the chaos spills into a nearby nightclub, the crew has to decide whether to make a run for it or barricade the doors and dig in. The angle here is very Romero: regular folks, not fighters, figuring out how to live through the worst night imaginable.
'It turns out to be a night of many resurrections.'
Romero co-wrote the script with Erin Judge, a novelist and comedian — a combo that tracks with the movie's setup: sharp, character-first, and a little cheeky even as the bodies hit the floor.
Cast (and why horror fans will clock a couple faces)
- Katy O'Brian (Love Lies Bleeding)
- Jack Haven (I Saw the TV Glow)
- Margaret Cho (Fire Island)
- Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story)
- Nina West (RuPaul's Drag Race)
- Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls)
- Tomas Matos (Fire Island)
- Quincy Dunn-Baker (No Hard Feelings)
- Becca Blackwell (Bros)
- Shaunette Renee Wilson (Black Panther)
- Dominique Jackson (Pose)
- Riki Lindhome (Knives Out)
- Eve Lindley (Bros)
- Drag artist Julie J
Inside baseball alert: Romero regular Tom Savini pops up, and Gaylen Ross from 'Dawn of the Dead' makes an appearance too. If you know, you know.
Behind the scenes
Produced by Matthew Lee Miller and Natalie Metzger of Vanishing Angle. Romero has called this ensemble her dream team, and you can feel that energy in the way the movie is built around the survival crew rather than just the gore.
Release and trailer
'Queens of the Dead' opens in theaters October 24. The trailer just dropped, and it leans into neon, sweat, and classic barricade-the-club tension — with a drag twist that feels refreshing in a genre that usually forgets nightlife exists until it's time for a body count.
Given the last name on the poster and the Tribeca audience win, I’m curious. Zombies at a Bushwick party with a retired drag queen leading the charge? That’s at least worth a ticket on Halloween week.