Tina Romero Keeps Her Father's Legacy Alive With ‘Queens of the Dead’ (2024)

When it comes to zombie movies, no one made them quite like George A. Romero. Starting with the 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead, a flesh-eating franchise started to walk the Earth. In the 55 plus years since, the series has spawned countless sequels of their own merit, like Dawn and Day of the Dead. Romero sadly passed away in 2017, leaving behind a large blood-soaked hole in the horror community. However, now Romero’s daughter, writer-director Tina Romero, is keeping her father's legacy lovingly alive with her upcoming film Queens of the Dead.

Speaking exclusively with the horror-centric Fangoria Magazine, Romero teased the plot of her upcoming zombie outbreak. “It takes place over one night, at the beginning of the dead rising,” she said, setting the scene. “We find ourselves at a big warehouse party in Bushwick. We’ve got a party promoter for whom everything’s going wrong, and her lead act has dropped out, so she needs to call upon a friend — a retired drag queen — to resurrect his drag, to come and save the night. And it turns out to be a night of many resurrections.” Ramero would continue on, “And our motley crew of characters find themselves holed up in a Bushwick nightclub, having to decide ‘do we get out of here or do we board the place up?’ And they’ve got to survive the night. It’s about a group of non-fighters finding the survival skills deep within.”

“When There's No More Room in Hell, the Dead Will Walk the Earth”

While George Romero didn’t originally intend for his of the Dead franchise to take on real-world horror and sub-text, the dark racially charged ending of Night of the Living Dead paved the way for the rest of the series. That looks to continue with a modern twist in Queens of the Dead. As Tina Romero put it, “My dad’s zombies were always reflecting what was going on in the world, and I almost feel a responsibility to take the torch and keep the Romero zombie alive, upholding, respecting, paying homage to it, while also introducing myself and my own voice as a filmmaker, and my own perspective. Which is different from his.” George Romero directed all six mainline films in the franchise.

There would be remakes of both Night and Dawn of the Dead, alongside some unofficial sequels throughout the years, but few zombie nightmares have matched what the famous director did with his trailblazing universe. His last film before his death was 2009’s Survival of the Dead. However, the main series will officially conclude soon with Twilight of the Dead. The sequel was adapted from an unproduced script by the late filmmaker. The universe was also expanded upon earlier this year in the Tubi original film Festival of the Dead, which acted as a direct legacy sequel to Night.

There’s no exact release date for Queens of the Dead yet, but the film is set to start shooting this summer for a planned 2025 debut. In Tina Romero’s own words, “It’s going to be a conga line through the zombie apocalypse. I really believe that zombie movies should be fun. And my hope is that audiences find this movie to be a fun ride that’s packed with some good jump scares, and some yummy gore and some pretty amusing characters.” It’ll also be old-school in the fact that there will be no guns in this unapologetically queer “zom-com”, which surely means there’s going to be a lot of creative kills in store for us. While horror fans wait for more fleshy info on the film, you can view the first-look poster for Queens of the Dead below. You can also read Tina Romero’s full Fangora interview on their website where she goes more in depth about her filmmaking background and the love for her dad.

Night of the Living Dead

NR

Horror

Release Date

October 4, 1968

Director

George A. Romero

Cast

Duane Jones , Judith O'Dea , Karl Hardman , Marilyn Eastman , Keith Wayne , Judith Ridley

Runtime

96

Main Genre

Horror

Writers

John A. Russo , George A. Romero

Studio

Continental Films

Tagline

If it doesn't scare you, you're already dead!