George A. Romero’s Daughter to ‘Take the Torch’ With New Zombie Movie

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George A. Romero’s legacy will continue with his daughter making more zombie films inspired by the work of her father. Called Queens of the Dead, the new film from Tina Romero will be paying homage while introducing the filmmaker’s own unique take on the genre.

Tina Romero spoke about the project in a new intervie with Fangoria. She looked back at her father’s legendary zombie films, including Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead. Not only did this movies spawn an all-new subgenre of horror, they served as allegories for real-life social issues of the era. Romero said that her upcoming film will take a similar approach, as this will keep the “Romero zombie alive” while adding something new to zombie horror.

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“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,” she said.

“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…”

Queens of the Dead takes place at a drag show in a queer club in New York. It goes back to the start of the zombie apocalypse, so the onslaught of the undead takes everyone by surprised, reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead. The new film also takes the approach of following a group of survivors just desperately trying to survive until morning, but with a setting and characters that are more modern.

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“It takes place over one night, at the beginning of the dead rising,” Romero explained. “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. 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.”

Queens of the Dead was co-written with Erin Judge. It’s been slowly in the works for years, as Romero even pitched it to her father George before his passing in 2017. At the time, the script had yet to be written, but the horror genre legend gave his full support to Tina with the project. She further stressed how the zombies featured in the new film behave the way the classic “Romero zombie” does.

“I got to pitch it to my dad, and he said, ‘Take it, run with it. I love it.’ And unfortunately, he passed before I had a draft,” she said. “I’m excited to put the Romero zombie in this world — and when I say ‘the Romero zombie,’ it’s sticking to the mythology: slow moving, one bite turns you, got to take out the brain, a little lingering sense of humanity.”

Queens of the Dead Won’t Feature Guns

Romero also shared a surprising revelation about the film, revealing that there are no guns in Queens of the Dead at all. This is partly because of the setting, as the drag queen characters will be forced to make do with whatever they can find in the building to defend themselves as none of them are armed.

“There will be no guns in this movie,” Romero shared. “I think it’s very boring to kill zombies with guns. And this is all about DIY. What kind of weapons is a drag queen going to make on this night, out of what they have in the green room? ‘No guns’ is one of the large conceits of this film.”

Queens of the Dead will start filming this summer ahead of its release in 2025.

Source: Fangoria

Night of the Living Dead

A ragtag group of survivors barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast portion of the United States.

Director: George A. Romero
Release Date: October 1, 1968
Studio: Continental Distributing Inc.
Cast: Judith O’Dea
, Duane Jones
, Marilyn Eastman
, Karl Hardman
, Judith Ridley
, Keith Wayne
Writers: John A. Russo
, George A. Romero
Runtime: 96 minutes
Production Company: Image Ten