Tina Romero inherits the zombie crown, and that's the good kind of succession

What does it mean to inherit the most famous zombie legacy in cinema? In Hollywood, it usually means a rights deal, a reboot and a slate of sequels. In this case, it means a daughter, a Brooklyn warehouse and a lot of glitter. We find that far more interesting than another cinematic universe.

Queens of the Dead is the feature debut of Tina Romero, daughter of George A. Romero, the man behind Night of the Living Dead. The premise, per the Filmstarts synopsis: DJ Dre (Katy O'Brian) is throwing a big drag-show party in a Brooklyn warehouse. The headliner cancels and the toilets are clogged. Then a zombie apocalypse breaks out and the club kids and queens have to put their rivalries aside.

The film premiered at Tribeca in 2025, where, according to Filmperlen, it won the Audience Award. Shudder and IFC backed it. Tina Romero co-wrote it with comedian Erin Judge, and she had small roles in her father's films as a child.

A family succession beats a franchise handover

Romero's zombies were never just monsters. In our reading, they were a vehicle for looking at who gets trapped together when the world cracks. A group of outsiders barricaded in a club, forced to cooperate with a right-wing plumber and some in-laws who don't get it, fits that tradition well. Those character setups, as reviewers describe them, are close to a Romero template, just with sequins on.

That's why the succession feels right to us. A studio asking "how do we monetize the brand?" produces something different from a daughter asking "what would my father's template say about my world?" The film even turns his most famous line, the one addressed to Barbara, into a cheeky exclamation, according to Filmperlen. That's affectionate, not reverential. We think affection is what a legacy needs, not a museum.

But the bite is the whole question

The thesis has a condition, and it's the one that matters: does the film keep Romero's teeth? Opinions split. Rotten Tomatoes' consensus, quoted on its page, calls it "a glowing zombie-fest filled with humor and heart". Horror Society gave it 2.5/5. Its reviewer found the performances uneven, the story fizzling after a strong start, the gray glitter-painted zombies underwhelming, and the gore lacking. A Reddit commenter called it a fun queer film but a lackluster zombie one. We treat forum comments as mood, not evidence, but the complaint matches the review.

That is the risk. Romero's best work hurt a little. If the zombies are an afterthought, the film becomes a party comedy with a monster backdrop, and the legacy argument gets thin. We haven't seen enough to say that's what happened, and we won't pretend to. But the criticism that it doesn't feel like a true zombie film is exactly the one that stings for a film carrying this surname.

Watch it for the warmth, not the scares

Judge the film as a personal project, not as the "official" continuation of anything. Its biggest strength is also, in our view, its most Romero-like trait: it's made by someone with a point of view about who survives the night. If you love the genre, watch it with realistic expectations: warmth and humor first, scares second. Even if it only half delivers on bite, we would rather see a legacy pass hands like this than through a rebooted-brand pipeline. Just don't call it a coronation until the gore matches the ambition.