Featured Image Courtesy of Shannon Madden/IFC Films

The undead divas have entered the chat, and they have zero interest in a tattered wardrobe, honey. Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead delivers with a capital ‘Q.’ The queer community may have invented camp, but they’ve been left out of comedy-horror for too long. Campy horror always manages to lift my mood, but I’m over queer characters becoming a deadly punchline instead of the ones serving them onstage with a sparkle. 

Queens of the Dead sashays away from the trite tropes we’ve come to expect. Instead, it serves viewers with affectionate stereotypes that let the community in on the jokes, with a wink-wink-nudge-nudge, instead of being the butt of them. 

Set in Brooklyn, Dre, played by Katy O’Brian, desperately tries to drum up a crowd for a struggling queer nightclub. Anyone who’s tried to keep up with the ever-changing hot spots in Bushwick can sympathize with her plight. And managing influencers? Good luck. Meanwhile, all hell breaks loose when the characters who take a suspicious batch of drugs turn green for a reason that has nothing to do with impending vomit. 

Yup, there’s a zombie outbreak in town, and they probably aren’t the crowd Dre pictured when she begged people to come to her party. But hey, no one gets down and dirty like a few dozen queer zombies. 

There’s a lot to unpack here, so luckily, GO attended the Queens of the Dead panel at New York Comic Con (NYCC), where Tina Romero, Jack Haven (Kelsey), Tomas Matos (Nico), Samora la Perdida (Jax), and Julie J. (ZombiQueen) discussed the movie, the cast, and all things queer horror.

So, who exactly are these on-screen queens? Kelsey is in the hospital recovering from an overdose while she fends off a zombie easter bunny alongside Riki Lindhome’s Lizzy. The social media-obsessed Nico is with the gang at the club, trying to prove himself as one of the greener queens (not to be confused with the zombies). Speaking of zombies, the ZombiQueen is, well, a zombie queen. And unfortunately for Jax, the go-go dancer-turned-zombie gets thrown in a cage for less-than-fun reasons. Margaret Cho also stars in the film as Pops, Kelsey’s sexy older butch girlfriend.

Courtesy of Shannon Madden/IFC Films

They’re Here, They’re Queer, and They Hit the Comedic Beats With Style 

The roster of actors in this film is as impressive as the wardrobes. Tomas Matos was pumped to work with comedic genius Margaret Cho again. Matos gushed to the NYCC audience, “ I’ve been very gracious and grateful because two of the films that I’ve done so far in my career have been with Margaret Cho, which is kind of iconic.”

Katy O’Brian admitted to GO that she was intimidated by Cho. “I kind of saw her character as the person that Dre probably should be to have a child in this world. Obviously, the more responsible, a little bit judgmental about it, that kind of thing. It is funny because I’ve seen [Margaret] perform, you know?” She added, “And for whatever reason, I expected her to be super tall. When I first met her, she [was] so tiny and she [was] giving me a hard time and intimidating me. So it was really fun to play with that because she actually is kind of intimidating.”

Riki Lindhome revealed to GO that Cho was the first comedian she had ever seen live — at her freshman college orientation, no less. “I was so enamored and just laughed so hard,” Lindhome said. “She’s so implanted in my brain. It was like a gold standard of comedians.”

When it comes to Dominique Jackson, the iconic Pose actress, Matos was a bit star-struck. “I remember when I first got on set with her, it just kind of felt like I was seeing what, in my opinion, was the embodiment of God,” Matos gushed. “She is so ethereal in person, and also how I was depicting her in my brain. And then when I met her, I was like, ‘Oh, wait, wow. You’re a literal goddess.’”

Meanwhile, Matos and co-star Samora la Perdida,, have quite a history. Pointing to Matos, la Perdida revealed at NYCC, “So we actually went to high school together. Oh yeah. Gagging. The first time we met was hooking up, but it was this beautiful story.”

Once la Perdida saw that Matos was in the film, it was game on. “[I] literally [manifested] all of the magical spells, worked my ass off. I was like, ‘I’m booking this,’ and to do this with her was just such a dream.”

The Man, the Myth, the Zombie Legend

Director Tina Romero resurrected her late father’s zombie universe for the inclusive film. And though she does her own thing with a dash of glitter, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead franchise was at the forefront of her mind.

During the NYCC panel, Romero explained that she was revisiting the onset of her late father’s apocalyptic universe and wanted to play by his zombie rules. 

“I was thinking of my dad all the time during the production of this movie,” she said. “And when I would turn to him the most, it would be on the hardest days when stuff was the most stressful.”

She added, “And I would sort of feel him reminding me to shift my perspective and to remember, you know what? It’s so lucky that you get to be doing this right now. Don’t forget to have fun.” 

Romero recalled how fun her father was, and that she drew inspiration from him both during filming and moments like the pie fight in Night of the Living Dead. “He told stories that were pretty heavy, and there’s some fatalistic energy in his films, but they’re silly, too.”

And let’s face it: it’s kind of hard to take zombies seriously. They grunt as much as an emotionally stunted straight dude and meander around with rotting flesh. Romero felt that energy, noting, “I just think that the zombie is one of the silliest monsters out there, and it was important to me to keep that alive. So I felt him reminding me to play.”

Photo Courtesy of Shannon Madden/IFC Films

Queer Voices or Bust — Period.

Sure, horror’s OG Romero inspired the film, but the Queens of the Dead director sprinkled glitter and representation into her father’s formula. Queens of the Dead is about a zombie apocalypse, so obviously it’s not all rhinestones and rainbows. But there’s plenty of queer joy in between all of the screaming and zombie wig snatching. Even better? The narrative is primarily told by the voices it represents.

Romero and her co-writer, Erin Judge, have lived in New York and experienced the local nightlife as members of the queer community. “As far as the community that we’re looking at, that’s our community,” she said at NYCC. “We [are both] queer people. And so that part, as far as the community, these are our people that we’re telling the story about.” 

On top of the creative team, nearly the entire cast identifies as queer. At the panel, Jack Haven, who plays Kelsey in the film, sardonically said, “I love playing a woman. It’s my dream to play a woman. […] We had such a fun day of putting together a look, and I just felt like such a little slut.” 

Haven added, “And by the second week, [they] had to lure me into the chair to put my wig on because I was like, ‘I cannot be this girl again’. But as soon as I got going, it [was] so much fun because it’s drag. You know? It’s the best thing.” Capping off the sentiment, Haven highlighted the importance of being Jack Haven in the credits for the first time since announcing their name change. 

On the characterization as a whole, Romero added, “I think what’s great about the ensemble [is] that [it] has the full spectrum [and] nobody is tasked with being the one to represent the entire community. [There’s] room to play and bring out authentic flavor.”

While they didn’t attend the NYCC panel, GO had the chance to exclusively sit down with Katy O’Brian and Riki Lindhome to chat about Queens of the Dead. In the midst of the murder and mayhem, the on-screen wives grapple with the possibility of becoming parents. 

O’Brian told GO, “I fortunately got to be with the ensemble…it was just one little display of talent after another. So many people were breaking out in song and just cracking jokes.”

“Katy and I, in this movie, we’re sort of the straight men,” Lindhome added. “We’re not as camp, so I think both of our characters were more of the grounding forces…I didn’t quite go for camp, which I would love to at some point, but I didn’t really in this one.”

The queer representation wasn’t just in the cast and creatives — Romero had fun with the lighting, too. She explained during the panel, “Oh yeah. We lean into the bisexual light. I love it. I like color. And I was also thinking about the movie Creep Show. I did want to evoke a little bit of that sort of 80s wash lighting.”

Romero praised her  Director of Photography Shannon Madden for “nailing it” and added, “I didn’t want this world to feel dull and drab and oversaturated like so many apocalyptic movies do. I wanted it to feel vibrant. So yeah, we did some bisexual things.” Mission. Accomplished. 

The Queens Get Real

While Queens of the Dead has its fill of drag joy and ‘silly’ zombies, Romero spent a good chunk of time with writer Erin Judge hammering out what they wanted to say in a social commentary capacity. 

“We sort of made our tableau like, ‘Okay, we want to talk about opioid use. We want to talk about infighting within the community. We want to talk about how older gays and younger gays don’t always see eye to eye, but need each other so desperately,’” she shared at NYCC.

She continued, “Intergenerational hangs are so important in our community, and chosen family is so major. And it’s not without conflict, it’s not without tension, and we don’t all know how to party together all the time, but we need each other. And that was really at the core.”

One of the most fascinating bits in the movie is how it tackles the explosion of tech that’s taken over every facet of daily life. Hell, even the zombies treat that extra limb with more reverence than the ones they eat. 

It was important to Romero to “address the social media apps that are pulling us apart and keeping us separated and how too much information in a crisis could be a problem.” She noted that this “needs to be in this next wave of Romero zombies.” And boy is it.

Heavy beats and phone pings are apparently the only things capable of congregating a bunch of zombies. And brains, obviously. It’s ironic, really, considering how many people liken the tech-obsessed crowd to zombies. We see what you did there, Romero.

Queer Horror Continues to Limp Forward

There’s no denying that the queer community has helped the camp genre grow as a whole. And while pop culture has largely straightwashed that history, movies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show paved the way for Queens of the Dead.

O’Brian told GO that she saw the classic 1975 film “way late [in life], and I was like, ‘Why have I not seen this movie sooner?’ It’s crazy. I don’t know if [Romero] drew any inspiration from that. It was very clear in the script and from the costumes that it was going to be that kind of vibe. So I think I was leaning more on that than past inspo.” 

While Queens of the Dead may have a ‘70s feel, the comedy is fresh. 

“With people now in comedy, they say, ‘you can’t be funny anymore’. And I don’t think that’s true; it’s the way it’s always been. If you can tell that the joke is meant in good humor, then it makes sense. But if you can tell that it’s meant in a biting or a disgusting way, then yeah, it’s going to ruffle some feathers,” she said. 

O’Brian added, “And in this instance, we make some Grindr jokes, and it is actually a part of people’s lives. But when it’s done from a place of understanding and good humor, then it’s just fun. We know that we’re not hating on somebody. We’re just kind of teasing in a way.”

The queer horror genre may be changing, but it’s doing so at a zombie pace. In the NYCC panel, Romero said there’s always room to grow and noted that it’s vital for the community to tell their own stories. 

“It’s not just about [the] script having queer plotlines or having a queer character, but putting the queers behind it. I think that’s why this movie feels so special…because this film was really made by queer people. And so the voice is there. It is an authentic queer voice,” she said. “And I think that that’s what I would like to see more and more of is queer stories [in] any genre being performed by, told by, directed by, [and] shot by queer people.”

And the movie itself? Julie J. let the NYCC audience know how thrilling it was to be a part of an iconic queer horror film, and that being a part of the Romero universe was both a shock and an honor.

“In 20 years, there’s going to be some college lecture that is queer horror through the lens mysticism in the late 2020s, [and] on the syllabus will be this movie,” Julie J. predicted. “And somewhere in Illinois, where that is happening, our faces are going to be the ones that that little queer kid in rural Illinois is looking at.”

As obsessed as I am over franchises like Scream, Queens of the Dead is a refreshing addition to a genre that desperately needed some glam AF zombies tearing stuff up. All the while, the queens soothe them with a Ke$ha drag performance and make over the token straight guy. 

“I hope [the audience]  just has fun in a weird time,” O’Brian told GO. “Just take a step away from your problems and enjoy the film, and hopefully you will see yourself in one of these characters because we’ve got a beautifully diverse cast, even within the community.”

Ultimately, Queens of the Dead is fun, campy, hilarious, and above all, it’s exactly what it says it’s going to be. That makes it a win in my Necronomicon. 

Queens of the Dead is officially in theaters on Friday, October 24.