EXCLUSIVE: Charades has acquired international sales rights to glam gore zombie comedy Queens of the Dead by Tina Romero, daughter of legendary director George A. Romero, ahead of the AFM.
The cast, revealed by MyRumors earlier this year, features Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls), Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), Margaret Cho (Fire Island), Brigette Lundy-Paine (I Saw The TV Glow) and Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story).
Co-written by Erin Judge and Romero, the movie follows a group of drag queens, club kids, and frenemies who must put aside their personal dramas and use their unique skills to fight the brain-thirsty undead when a zombie apocalypse breaks out on the night of a giant warehouse party.
Others featuring in the cast of the film from Vanishing Angle include Nina West (Rupaul’s Drag Race), Tomas Matos (Fire Island), Quincy Dunn-Baker (No Hard Feelings), Becca Blackwell (Bros), Shaunette Renée Wilson (Black Panther), Dominique Jackson (Pose), Riki Lindhome (Knives Out), and Eve Lindley (Bros).
Romero is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker whose short films (Little Girl Blue and Rainbowarrior) and music videos have featured internationally at the Melbourne Film Festival, the Winnipeg Magical Feminism Exhibition, and the Accolade Global Film Competition. Her feature script, The Lost Girls, was a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab.
She cites her greatest influence in film and in lifeas being her father, Night of the Living Dead director Romero.
Queens Of The Dead is produced by award-winning director, writer, and producer, Natalie Metzger (Greener Grass, Thunder Road) and Matthew Lee Miller (The Beta Test, A Bread Factor) for Vanishing Angle (Werewolves Within, It Ain’t Over), in association with IFC Films & Shudder, Creativity Capital and Flexibon Films.
“This project fits perfectly into the DNA of Charades: a talented director who enjoys subverting genre conventions and revealing a universe that is uniquely her own, featuring a five-star cast,” said Yohann Comte, chairman of Paris-based Charades.
Romero describes Queens of the Dead as a tribute to the spirit of drag and a continuation of the Romero legacy of redefining the zombie genre.
“With Charades joining us, we’re excited to carry on that tradition, bringing a blend of outrageous humor and glamor to the undead in a way that’s never been done before,” she said.
Producers Natalie Metzger and Matthew Lee Miller said partnering with Charades represented an opportunity to bring Romero’s vision to a global audience.
“Their passion for genre-bending films aligns perfectly with our mission to push boundaries, and together, we’re thrilled to share this thrilling, glam-filled adventure,” they said. “Tina’s vision and style for this film are so unique, hilarious, and fun. Audiences are going to be dying laughing while on this ride.”
In AFM, Charades will also screen for the first time Charlie McDowell’s The Summer Book, spooky animated family comedy Night of the Zoopocalypse: The Rule of Jenny Pen by James Aschroft, which was awarded in Fantastic Fest and Sitges, Julie Delpy’s french comedy Meet the Barbarians, and Fantastic Fest Best Feature Award Bring Them Down by Christopher Andrews and starring Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan.