Movies: Queens of the Dead (2025) by Tina Romero: Drag, Zombies, and Camp

Movie Summary: Brooklyn's Glitter-Soaked Zombie Battle

• Title: The Club Kids' Unconventional Fight for Survival

• Summary of Content: Queens of the Dead is a high-concept, genre-blending Horror-Comedy set in Brooklyn. The story centers on a troupe of drag queens and club kids whose drag show is violently interrupted by a zombie outbreak. Forced to set aside their personal conflicts, the performers—including Sam (Jaquel Spivey), Dre (Katy O'Brian), and Ginsey (Nina West)—must utilize their unique stage skills, fierce looks, and camp sensibilities to battle the brain-craving undead threat. The film, directed by Tina Romero, daughter of the master George A. Romero, is an unapologetically queer, campy romp that serves as both a tribute to classic horror and a celebration of drag culture.

• Movie Trend: Queer Horror-Comedy and Camp/Spoof Cinema. The film aligns with the trend of genre films that use horror tropes for satirical, comedic, and cultural commentary, embracing absurdity and blending the aesthetics of drag culture with B-movie horror.

• Social Trend: Drag Culture Mainstream Visibility and Queer Community Resilience. It taps into the vital social trend of increasing visibility for drag queens and club kids in mainstream media, emphasizing themes of chosen family, community resilience, and the power of creative expression in the face of adversity.

• Director Info: Directed by Tina Romero (daughter of George A. Romero) and co-written with Erin Judge. The director deliberately approaches the zombie genre with a playful, theatrical style that honors her father's legacy through social criticism, but lacks his "scathing criticism."

• Major Awards: The film has secured 3 wins & 1 nomination total and a Metascore of 68, indicating strong critical reception for its concept, casting, and genre execution.

Why it is Trending: High-Concept Queer Genre Mashup

Queens of the Dead is trending due to its audacious, high-concept premise—drag queens vs. zombies—and its powerful appeal to both horror fans and the LGBTQIA+ community.

• Unique Concept: The fusion of drag, camp, and zombie horror is inherently marketable and promises a uniquely entertaining, over-the-top cinematic experience.

• Star-Studded Queer Cast: The film draws interest from the inclusion of major figures from the queer community and popular culture, including Jaquel Spivey, Katy O'Brian, Nina West, and Margaret Cho, guaranteeing strong engagement from a dedicated fanbase.

• Romero Legacy: The film is directed by Tina Romero, whose parentage immediately connects the project to the foundational legacy of the zombie genre, generating curiosity about her modern take.

• Strong Critical Response: A Metascore of 68 and highly positive user reviews (10/10 calling it "Hysterical") confirm the film successfully delivers on its promise of "camp, queer, glitter, fun, and iconic."

Why to Watch This Movie: Glitter, Grit, and Genuinely Fun Performances

The film is essential viewing for audiences seeking a fast-paced, funny, and visually vibrant genre experience that is unapologetically loud and self-aware.

• Hysterical Dialogue: User reviews praise the film's writing, noting that "Every sentence was a punch line that 100% delivered," confirming the script's success in providing campy, quotable humor.

• Lovable Characters: The ensemble cast, particularly Jaquel Spivey and Nina West, are highlighted for their ability to showcase both comedic and serious performances with "lovable characters" and "fierce looks."

• Tribute to Camp: The movie fully leans into parody and absurdity ("Scary Movie meets The Birdcage with a splash of Rocky Horror"), appealing directly to fans of self-aware, overblown spoof cinema.

• Unique Action Skills: The plot structure allows the queens to utilize their distinct abilities (costume-making, stage presence, quick wit) against the undead, providing creative and unconventional action sequences.

Where to watch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/queens-of-the-dead (US), https://www.justwatch.com/ca/movie/queens-of-the-dead (Canada)

Link IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32986431/

Link Review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/queens-of-the-dead-queer-zombie-movie-review-2025

About movie: https://www.charades.eu/movies/queens-of-the-dead

What Trend is Followed?: Camp Zombie Spoof Cinema

The movie follows the specialized trend of Camp Zombie Spoof Cinema, a subgenre of horror-comedy that uses the established tropes of the zombie apocalypse for satirical commentary, often infused with specific subcultural aesthetics like drag.

• Social Critique through Horror: Similar to her father's work, the film uses the zombie outbreak as a metaphor for societal decay or intolerance, although Tina Romero's approach is more playful and light on "scathing criticism."

• Genre Self-Awareness: The film is wildly self-aware (pure spoof cinema), utilizing meta-references and broad humor to mock horror conventions rather than generating genuine scares or tension.

• Subculture Focus: The film capitalizes on the trend of centering stories on marginalized communities (drag queens, club kids), whose unique perspective and chosen family structure offer a fresh take on the standard survival narrative.

Movie Plot: Backstage Crisis Meets Undead Invasion

The plot tracks a pre-show crisis escalating into a full-blown zombie battle inside the Brooklyn club:

• The Pre-Show Crisis: The film introduces the drag troupe as they prepare for a special presentation, immediately dealing with backstage drama, personal conflicts, and a series of technical and logistical crises impeding their upcoming show.

• The Outbreak: A zombie outbreak takes place on the outskirts of the story, serving as an external disruption that slowly begins to encroach upon the nightclub.

• The Collision: The undead, craving brains, crash the drag show, forcing the queens and club kids to put their personal differences aside and unite for survival.

• Unconventional Warfare: The performers must utilize their distinct skills—quick wit, performance art, and elaborate costuming—to battle the zombie threat within the confines of the club.

• The Escape: The climax involves a series of escape attempts to get out of the nightclub alive, forcing the community to demonstrate their resilience and loyalty to one another.

Director's Vision: A Glittery, Energetic Tribute

Director Tina Romero's vision is to create a "hysterical" and "unapologetically loud" tribute to her father's legacy, filtering the zombie apocalypse through the exuberant, chaotic, and often critical lens of drag camp.

• Camp Aesthetic: The direction emphasizes vibrant and theatrical visuals—makeup, costumes, and set designs—that give the movie an unmistakable, over-the-top personality.

• Prioritizing Character: Romero’s vision is focused on the characters and performances, allowing the performances to drive the comedy and the emotional core, sometimes at the expense of a tightly written plot.

• Playful Critique: The film intends to include a component of social criticism (like her father’s films) but approaches it with a more "playful" tone, using the queer community to comment on broader societal acceptance and resilience.

Themes: Chosen Family, Resilience, and The Power of Performance

The central themes are focused on the strength found in subculture and the use of art as a weapon against chaos:

• Chosen Family: The core theme is the fierce loyalty and resilience of the queer community, highlighting that the drag troupe and club kids are a "chosen family" whose bond transcends their petty backstage conflicts.

• Performance as Power: The film explores the idea that drag and performance art are not just entertainment, but powerful tools and weapons against literal and metaphorical threats, using glitter, sass, and fierce looks as forms of defense.

• Subculture as Sanctuary: The nightclub initially serves as a sanctuary from the outside world, a theme which is violently tested when the chaotic horror of the "straight world" breaks in.

• Identity and Expression: The film celebrates unapologetic self-expression and identity, suggesting that authenticity is a critical component of survival.

Key Success Factors: High Critical Acclaim and Timeliness

The film's success is driven by its genre innovation and cultural relevance:

• Genre Innovation: The successful blending of drag and horror is a unique selling point that guarantees media attention and positions it as a major entry in queer cinema.

• Strong Ensemble: The performances from actors popular in the LGBTQIA+ community (Nina West, Jaquel Spivey, Tomas Matos) ensure a built-in, highly engaged audience.

• Validated Quality: The Metascore of 68 and festival awards confirm the film is a well-executed example of its genre, overcoming the limitations often associated with independent horror-comedy.

Awards and Nominations: Focus on Film Festival Recognition

The film has secured 3 wins & 1 nomination total, indicating strong recognition on the festival circuit, likely in categories such as Best Independent Feature, Best Horror-Comedy, or Audience Awards, particularly at LGBTQIA+ and genre-specific festivals.

Critics reception: Praise for Timeliness and Allegorical Depth

The 33 critic reviews are generally positive, focusing on its fun, camp energy:

• Fun Indie Romp: Critics praised the film as a "fun indie romp" with "immensely enjoyable setup," recognizing its success as lighthearted entertainment.

• Camp and Self-Awareness: The movie was noted for knowing "exactly what it wants to be—a campy, over-the-top horror-comedy," which critics found engaging, even if it sometimes suffered from being "chaotic" or a "string of sketches stitched together."

• Pacing Critique: Reviewers pointed out that the film is "decidedly light on zombie action" for the majority of the runtime, suggesting the plot writing could have been stronger in balancing the comedy with the horror.

Reviews: Polarizing Audience Reaction Driven by Execution

• IMDb User Rating: The film holds a moderate user rating of 5.9/10 from 380 votes. This split score reflects the highly polarizing nature of camp and spoof cinema: audiences either find it "Hysterical" (10/10) or "painfully over-the-top" (3/10).

• Performance Quality: User reviews acknowledged the strong performances from the leads but criticized the acting in some supporting roles as being "all over the place" or "forced."

What Movie Trend film is following: The Camp Zombie Spoof

The film is following the specialized movie trend of the Camp Zombie Spoof, utilizing exaggerated horror elements for comedic and cultural commentary, distinguishing itself by centering the narrative and aesthetics around drag and club culture.

What Big Social Trend is following: Mainstream Drag Visibility and Community Resilience

The big social trend the film is following is the massive increase in Mainstream Drag Visibility and the celebration of Community Resilience. It uses a genre framework to showcase the wit, creative talent, and inherent familial bond within the queer and drag communities in the face of external threat.

What Consumer Trend is following: Demand for High-Concept, Niche Niche Genre Entertainment

The consumer trend followed is the Demand for High-Concept, Niche Genre Entertainment. Audiences are attracted to films that successfully fuse two distinct, vibrant subcultures (drag and horror) to create a unique piece of spoof cinema that delivers guaranteed fun, glitter, and self-aware absurdity.

Final Verdict: A Fun, Iconoclastic Blast of Campy Horror

Queens of the Dead is an iconoclastic, fun, and highly energetic horror-comedy that delivers exactly the glitter-soaked camp and self-aware chaos it promises. While the plot suffers from pacing issues, the film is redeemed by the fierce performances, quick-witted dialogue, and its successful celebration of community resilience and the subversive power of drag.

Key Trend highlighted – The effective use of camp aesthetics and drag culture to revitalize the zombie horror-comedy genre, using performance and chosen family as key survival tools.

Key Insight – The film demonstrates that in the face of the apocalypse, the true weapon is not a chainsaw, but unapologetic self-expression and the fierce loyalty of your chosen family.

Similar movies: Camp Horror-Comedy and Queer Genre Blends

• Shaun of the Dead (2004): The quintessential modern zombie comedy that blends domestic drama and character comedy with horror tropes.

• But I'm a Cheerleader (1999): A cult classic queer comedy that uses absurd, exaggerated camp aesthetics for sharp social satire.

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975): A foundational piece of camp cinema and musical horror that celebrated absurdity and gender-bending performance.