Tina Romero on Her Fantastically Enjoyable Zombie Film ‘Queens of the Useless’

What if the zombie apocalypse broke out in Brooklyn—and infiltrated the queer nightlife scene? That’s the very enjoyable and sparkle-infused premise of Queens of the Dead, which opens this week and is directed by Tina Romero—sure, the daughter of zombie movie legend George A. Romero.

io9 talked to Tina Romero all about her debut characteristic, together with what it’s like carrying on her father’s splattery legacy and the significance of seeing joyful queer illustration onscreen.

Cheryl Eddy, io9: Rising up with George Romero as a dad, how did that have an effect on your notion of zombie motion pictures? 

Tina Romero: I inform individuals I sat on a zombie’s lap earlier than I met the mall Santa. Zombies have been identical to a reality of life. Like, Santa Claus exists and zombies exist, and that’s simply how it’s. I additionally say that I’m a child who grew up on Pippi Longstocking and Bye Bye Birdie and West Aspect Story and ‘80s Disney motion pictures, however then I might tiptoe previous a terrifying poster on the best way to the lavatory at evening or Fluffy’s crate from Creepshow. So my world has all the time been a really unusual mashup of darkish and lightweight.

I feel that’s on the core of my creativity. I’m an edgy cheeseball, and I like issues which can be gentle and playful and colourful and still have a little bit of a gory edge. And my dad was very a lot the identical. He made some darkish, nihilistic, scary motion pictures, however he was such a mild big, and he additionally cherished the tacky stuff. We watched lots of motion pictures collectively. That was our main type of bonding. And he would unabashedly weep when he was moved. And I feel that basically impacted me and confirmed me the ability of flicks, the ability of movie to maneuver individuals. That’s what I all the time picked up on: motion pictures can transfer individuals they usually can provoke real-life empathy. That was my guiding gentle so far as what I needed to do with my life: I needed to maneuver individuals with motion pictures.

io9: Was there any hesitation about making your characteristic movie debut a zombie film since you knew individuals would instantly evaluate you along with your dad—or was that kind of the rationale why you needed to make a zombie film first?

Romero: I feel it’s each. As [Katy O’Brian’s character] Dre says within the film, it’s all the time each. Definitely there was some hesitation, large sneakers to fill, and worry of comparability, which is why I didn’t wish to contact the style until I may do it in a manner that felt authentically me. So when the idea got here to me, it was only a very full-body sure. The thought of moving into the zombie style by way of the lens of queer nightlife simply felt like, that is precisely how I wish to introduce myself as a filmmaker as a result of it is a world that I do know and those who I care about; I can inform [this] story authentically.

And I really like zombies; I do know zombies; I grew up with zombies. So let’s mash up these worlds, and let me introduce myself as my very own filmmaker whereas attending to additionally carry ahead the monster that my dad created into 2025 with a feminine perspective, with a queer perspective. It simply felt actually proper. As soon as the thought hit me, I knew that this was the right first characteristic for me.

io9: Queerness has been current in horror motion pictures since horror motion pictures started, although till the previous couple of a long time it was extra subtext and suggestion. Queens of the Useless may be very overt, in fact. How does it really feel to be carrying on that legacy and attending to be very free about it?

Romero: Oh, it feels unbelievable. I’m so excited that Shudder and IFC are placing this film out in 2025. It seems like such an essential time to, as you mentioned, prefer it’s not subtext, it’s on the market. We’re right here; the queers are right here. We’re preventing zombies, we’re surviving, which may be very a lot how the world feels proper now.

And I’m actually happy with the truth that this isn’t a film that’s exhibiting queerness in a bleak manner. It’s celebratory. It’s joyful. I really feel like that’s what we want as queer individuals proper now: we have to rejoice ourselves and we have to have some enjoyable. And we have to really feel the enjoyment. So it feels extremely essential to me to have the ability to do that. My dad’s motion pictures [had] a historical past of representing marginalized communities. And I’m so proud that I can, in 2025, do that for the queer neighborhood by way of the Romero zombie monster.

I hope it is a place the place individuals can come and really feel celebrated as an alternative of erased and have a bit of reprieve from the fucking information cycle that simply each single day is so scary. It’s a horror movie, nevertheless it’s additionally lighthearted. I needed to make a movie that individuals left the theater feeling a bit of hope of their coronary heart and a pep of their step and a bit of preventing spirit. As a result of we now have to maintain preventing, and we now have to stay collectively as a neighborhood and get by way of this, no matter that is.

io9: George Romero’s motion pictures all the time had social commentary entrance and middle; as an example, Daybreak of the Useless’s shopping-mall zombies and consumerism. Queens of the Useless undoubtedly appears to be making an announcement about social media: influencers, relationship apps, Snapchat, being too on-line, and being overly linked to our telephones. What made you wish to zero in on that theme?

Romero: Oh, as a result of I’m simply so freaked out about how my very own mind has modified within the, no matter, 11 years that it’s been since I’ve had a smartphone. I really feel it. I really feel my mind altering. After I go to open Sweet Crush on the prepare with out even making that selection, it actually freaks me out. I really feel prefer it’s sucking my consideration. It’s altering the ways in which we work together—simply the anxiousness it provokes. It’s been bugging me for a very long time, and it actually does really feel like if you stroll across the streets of New York, everybody’s a telephone zombie. It’s occurring. We’re all telephone zombies out right here.

[The theme] felt very pure to me. We needed to stay to the Romero zombie monster guidelines: they’re gradual, they don’t run. One chunk turns you. You must take out the mind to defeat the monster. After which I needed so as to add this little factor, which I do know my dad would have accepted of, which is that they’re nonetheless responding to their gadgets.

I consider that we’d nonetheless be responding to our gadgets in within the occasion of a zombie apocalypse as a result of it’s innate. It’s not a selection. It’s a muscle factor. In order that was essential to me. And likewise, I feel that telephones—as a lot as they’re a software, and there are many good issues which have come out of connecting on-line and discovering neighborhood on-line—I additionally suppose they’re separating us in an entire solely new manner. I feel it’s inflicting extra rigidity and inflicting extra preventing. That’s additionally one thing I needed to dig into with the character of Barry [played by Quinn Dunn-Baker]. Barry, the brother-in-law, is on very completely different podcasts and really completely different algorithms however in the end has much more in widespread with this group of individuals than he realizes. And I feel that’s sort of the case for all people proper now: we’re extra mad at one another on-line than we should be.

io9: The film performs into zombie film tropes—the sheltering in place, the weapons-gathering scene, and the “head shot” directive—however its setting and characters convey a brand new perspective. How aware have been you of together with these acquainted moments and aiming to subvert them?

Romero: I believed lots about, okay, individuals are coming to this most likely having seen a zombie movie. So we don’t essentially have to overview the entire guidelines. However how can we remind individuals what they’re whereas additionally treating the viewers with the respect of, like, “You most likely know what goes on in a zombie film”? So there was a little bit of a dance round how a lot we needed to deal with the viewers as in the event that they knew nothing or assuming most individuals would find out about a zombie movie and the principles of that.

It’s enjoyable to play with the tropes and to queer them, you realize? One of many first issues I needed to do was flip the script so far as the motley crew goes. As an alternative of getting the token homosexual, we needed to have all queer individuals with the one straight man as an alternative, and I really like that. I feel it actually lends itself to a enjoyable experience. And queer individuals are the funniest, most enjoyable, most resilient, strongest, and most certain to outlive. So all of it felt so proper to me.

And I personally suppose it’s very boring to kill zombies with weapons; it’s really easy. So from the start, I used to be psyched in regards to the idea of DIY weapons. What have they got within the membership that they’re utilizing to make armor? What are they preventing these zombies with and what does their armor appear like? As a result of I do suppose drag in some ways is like armor. David Tabbert, the top of costumes, and I began speaking about [the costumes for the final showdown] years earlier than we began capturing. Like, what do their closing showdown [outfits] appear like and the way are they each armor and drag?

io9: The look of the zombies is in contrast to something I’ve seen earlier than—they’re metallic and glamorous, which clearly fits the film’s themes. What went into arising with the monster make-up?

Romero: I feel zombies are sometimes so butch. They’re carrying denims, they’ve acquired the gross rotting flesh. And I simply knew that wasn’t proper for this movie. If we have been gonna do that within the queer nightlife world, we needed to make the zombies fabulous. So from the start I knew I needed to place glitter within the blood and Christina Grant, head of make-up, actually acquired the project instantly.

I really like the zombies in Daybreak of the Useless; I really like that they’re simply painted inexperienced. I feel that there’s one thing to that. I feel you’ll be able to belief your viewers to be like, “On this world, that is what zombies appear like. Come alongside for the experience.” That’s what my dad did in Daybreak of the Useless, and I needed to kind of broaden upon that.

So we discovered the right shade of inexperienced, after which we discovered the right metallic shimmer to layer on high of that. We labored with our prosthetic mildew maker to make sure that the masks left ample room for there to even be a wonderful eyeshadow look. We needed to ensure that the cheekbones have been giving cheekbones, as a result of we needed to layer glam make-up with the gore. That very a lot on the temper board from the start, the idea of glam gore.

Additionally, how can that invite individuals into this film who possibly can be hesitant to go to a zombie flick? On this case, there’s some glam. There’s some glitter within the blood. Come over to this film. You’re going to have time. It’s not going to be too gross. And it additionally simply feels spiritually proper for the world of queer nightlife. These zombies are freshly useless on a Saturday evening in Bushwick. They’re carrying going-out appears.

io9: Final up, I’ve to ask you about Tom Savini’s cameo.

Romero: There are two actually enjoyable Romero cameos! Within the hospital. Gaylen Ross from Daybreak of the Useless is the physician that bumps into Sam [played by Jaquel Spivey] within the hallway.

io9: I didn’t catch that one. That’s superb! 

Romero: Isn’t that enjoyable? It’s an ensemble solid; there are usually not lots of talking roles which can be outdoors of the primary group. And I actually needed to have some enjoyable Romero universe cameos. And Tom was—I did must ask him greater than as soon as as a result of he was very, he’s a busy man. However he in the end was like, “Yeah, I’ll do that for you.” And I’m thrilled that he performs the mayor of New York Metropolis at a celebration. We shot it on Zooms and I feel he’s the right selection. What can I say? It’s so enjoyable that there’s a Tom Savini cameo on this film. Additionally, he and his associate, Jason Baker at Callosum Studios, made the zombie child puppet.

io9: Virtually a 3rd cameo! 

Romero: Precisely, precisely.

Queens of the Useless opens October 24; you’ll be able to test the film’s website to see the place it’s taking part in close to you.

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