Tina Romero, daughter of the legendary George Romero, directs a comedy zombie thriller set in a queer nightclub that's all style and no real substance, despite an all-star cast and great vibes.
When I found out that Katy O'Brian was going to be in a new queer zombie movie directed by George Romero's daughter, I could not have been MORE excited. You may remember her and her incredible range from last year's excellent Love Lies Bleeding or opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.
Alas, not even her incredible biceps (which should get second billing) could save this hot mess of a movie. I do not make this review lightly, as I wanted very badly to love it. I am no stranger to camp, and as y'all probably know by now, I tend to like almost every movie I see. And while I can definitely focus on a few fun parts of this one, I haven't been so underwhelmed at the cinema in a long time. And what's worse is that it's got a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes! What am I missing?
First, a brief plot synopsis: Queens of the Dead asks the question, "What would happen to a motley crew of LGBTQ+ characters if a zombie plague descended upon Brooklyn while holed up at a nightclub called YUM?" They would fight, battle, make up, get resourceful, and even have a craft session.
If this all sounds incredibly cutesy, it is. And again, normally, I'd be down for this, but something just doesn't work right. It reads as cliché, boring, and very, very low-stakes. I love horror, I love comedy (I still am the only person defending SNL after 50 years), and yet I left feeling deflated. Let's see why.
The casting in this movie is legit insane. Apart from the aforementioned Katy O'Brian, we have Jack Haven (I Saw the TV Glow), Dominique Jackson (Pose), Nina West (RuPaul's Drag Race), and tons of others from TV and Broadway. At one point, Margaret Cho rolls in on a scooter in coveralls, and the theater I was in exploded. Watching all of these people hang out for 100 minutes and throw shade at each other isn't the worst way to spend your time. It just doesn't make for a compelling narrative experience.
I read one of the must-haves for this movie was that most of the queer characters have to make it out alive. If you know about the #buryyourgays trope, you know that LGBTQ+ folks generally tend to meet tragic fates in films, books, and other media. By subverting this trope — and having the queer people be the heroes — you get a refreshing take that actually feels good. There's even a straight-man character sidekick who, literally, is a straight man from Staten Island. The team of lesbians, drag queens, transpeople, and non-binary individuals work together to make it out alive, the very opposite of what happens in her father's Night of the Living Dead. It's also a breath of fresh air to see folks come together instead of tearing themselves apart with in-fighting.
The movie is filled with one-liners and sight gags, and given the sheer amount peppered throughout, several really land. I had more than a handful of actual belly laughs, including an aptly placed "death drop" pun by a dying drag queen. But for every one that lands, 5 or 10 more fall super flat. Again, I present to you my credentials: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark is one of my favorite films. And you, Queens of the Dead, are no Elvira. In general, the movie starts out strong but sort of just runs out of steam by the end.
What doesn't
Many reviewers declare the movie to be "camp," as if that magical word somehow expands on the film's hollowness. But generally speaking, just because a movie has drag queens and puns, that doesn't make it camp. Susan Sontag, in her essay "On Camp" lays out the groundwork for this phenomenon. Here's where I think Queens of the Dead fails the camp test:
“In naïve, or pure, Camp, the essential element is seriousness, a seriousness that fails. Of course, not all seriousness that fails can be redeemed as Camp. Only that which has the proper mixture of the exaggerated, the fantastic, the passionate, and the naïve.”
The movie is by turns incredibly disingenuous and then, a split second later, it will be cloyingly saccharine about a friendship breakup or drug abuse. It just doesn't work. It could be because the actors don't have the range to play at this level of theatrics (there's an extended plot line where a character has stage fright, and it goes absolutely nowhere), or maybe it's that worrying about emotions in a time of live-or-die lowers the stakes.
With pure camp, you're also aiming to make a good movie and it fails. I don't think they set out to make an Oscar-winning film with Queens of the Dead, but neither do I think they set out to make a camp masterpiece. It's complicated, I guess. I just know that I adore honest-to-goodness camp and this one doesn't rise to the heights(or maybe the nadirs) of the likes of John Waters' films, Rocky Horror, and others.
Another thing that doesn't work is the heavy-handed commentary on club culture and influencers. If George Romero was using zombies as a metaphor that could be read as reactions to the Vietnam War and racism, Tina Romero is addressing the "zombification" of young people due to smartphones and social media. When I say heavy-handed, I mean it: the zombies are literally walking around carrying their phones and live-streaming. It takes you out of the movie, and it's not even funny or thought-provoking! You've got to have at least one of those things to make a real point.
Overall, I think this could have been a great SNL sketch. Or an absolutely FANTASTIC Halloween episode of the late, great Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It's just not funny enough to be a true comedy, and it's not scary enough (or at all) to be a horror movie.
Am I glad it exists? Yes! And I'm very happy for folks online who seem to love it. I just expected a lot more depth, edge, and nuance.
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The Math
Nerd Coefficient: 5/10
POSTED BY: Haley Zapal, NoaF contributor and lawyer-turned-copywriter living in Atlanta, Georgia. A co-host of Hugo Award-winning podcast Hugo, Girl!, she posts on Instagram as @cestlahaley. She loves nautical fiction, growing corn and giving them pun names like Timothee Chalamaize, and thinking about fried chicken.
