{"id":14672,"date":"2025-10-24T07:58:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/14672\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T07:58:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:58:25","slug":"glitter-in-the-blood-tina-romero-on-queens-of-the-dead-pittsburgh-city-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/14672\/","title":{"rendered":"“Glitter in the blood”: Tina Romero on Queens of the Dead – Pittsburgh City Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tina Romero has long called the queer nightlife scene home, performing and making a living for years as DJ Trx in New York City and beyond. Even so, the Pittsburgh native and daughter of late director George A. Romero, who put southwestern Pa. on the filmmaking map with his 1968 horror masterpiece Night of the Living Dead, couldn\u2019t shake her famous father\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted to touch zombies when I went to film school,\u201d Tina, who earned film degrees from Wellesley College and the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, tells Pittsburgh City Paper. \u201cPeople would always ask me, \u2018Don\u2019t you want to make a zombie film?\u2019 And I would say, \u2018No, I want to make gender swapped Peter Pan and movie musicals.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, Tina saw a way to combine her two worlds, integrating her father\u2019s invention \u2014 the modern zombie \u2014 into the world of DJs, drag, and disco.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a promoter drama that happened at one of the parties that I worked at, and somebody posted a manifesto online asking, \u2018When will the queer community stop devouring its own?\u2019\u201d she recalls. \u201cAnd that it hit me like a bolt of lightning right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly a decade later, Tina has delivered her directorial feature debut. Now in theaters, Queens of the Dead<\/a>, a horror comedy Tina also co-wrote with comedian and longtime friend Erin Judge, pits an \u201ceclectic group of drag queens, club kids, and frenemies\u201d against a zombie outbreak in Brooklyn. The film recently made its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, where it earned the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film.<\/p>\n

Despite now living in NYC, Tina says she often visits Pittsbrugh, where some of her relatives still reside, and that her cell number still starts with a 412 area code. She returns on Sun., Oct. 26, for a Queens of the Dead screening and director\u2019s Q&A<\/a> at Row House Cinema. The event is being presented in part by the George A. Romero Foundation<\/a> (of which Tina serves as vice-president) and the recently announced Horror Studies Center<\/a> at the University of Pittsburgh, which houses many of George Romero\u2019s archives.<\/p>\n

She promises locals will see numerous Pittsburgh Easter eggs in the film \u2014 in her cameo, Tina says she wears a Steelers jacket, and they also \u201cthrew in some Iron City Beer paraphernalia.\u201d It will also feature Pittsburgh-based makeup special effects artist Tom Savini<\/a>, who worked on and starred in multiple George Romero films.<\/p>\n

\"\"Queens of the Dead Credit: Courtesy of Independent Film Company\/Shudder<\/p>\n

While horror audiences might expect a heavy homage to her father, Tina says she feels proud of producing something he never would have made.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little bit more optimistic, I\u2019m a little bit more whimsical, cheesy, fantasy production design,\u201d she says. \u201cMy dad had some pretty grim, nihilistic messaging, and not a lot of people make it out of his films alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ensuring that most of the characters in Queens of the Dead not only survive, but thrive was important to Tina, who views it as a response to the devastating events of the past several years. \u201cThe bulk of it got done during [the COVID-19 pandemic] and we were like, we want to make an uplifting zombie film where people walk out of the theater with a little hope in their heart and pep in their step and a feeling of, let\u2019s go forth and keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tina credits her cast \u2014 an ensemble boasting, among others, RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race contestant Nina West, Pose star Dominique Jackson, Jack Haven of the horror indie hit I Saw the TV Glow, and Katy O\u2019Brian of the queer action-thriller Love Lies Bleeding, as well as veteran stand-up comic Margaret Cho \u2014 with successfully balancing the horror and comedic elements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey understood that they needed to be committed to the world and not be too wink-winky about what was going on. They had to be under duress. They had to be afraid of the zombies, you know \u2026 Yes, they\u2019re painted green and they\u2019re sparkly, but they\u2019re scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

She believes the choice to make light of the undead will appeal to a wider, more diverse audience, and perhaps introduce newcomers to queer culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, people who love drag, but aren\u2019t as comfortable with horror, maybe they would come check this one out because we\u2019re gonna put glitter in the blood,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd maybe the horror guys who have never been to a drag show would come check this out because we\u2019re doing zombies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tina admits that, while she views Queens of the Dead as a purposeful departure from her father\u2019s work, she hopes people \u201cfeel like I am taking the torch and paying respect to him and playing in his sandbox, while also getting to know me as a filmmaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s big time on my mind,\u201d she says. \u201cI really want to do him proud, but I\u2019m also not trying to be him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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