PLOT: Drag queens and membership youngsters battle zombies craving brains throughout a zombie outbreak at their drag present in Brooklyn, placing private conflicts apart to make the most of their distinct skills in opposition to the undead menace.
REVIEW: If you consider the phrase zombie, many people horror followers consider the title George A Romero. He helped to create the style and gave us three of one of the best zombie movies on the market. So it’s thrilling that his daughter Tina is selecting up the undead filmmaking mantle and attempting her hand at making this fashion of movie, with a biting social message. Very apropos for 2025, Queens of the Useless follows a gaggle of individuals at a drag present and their companions, as a zombie outbreak occurs within the coronary heart of New York Metropolis. And relatively than the stylings of her father, she takes a decidedly extra comedic strategy that principally works.
One factor I must get out of the best way instantly is that Queens of the Useless is a comedy. I wrestle to even pair it with horror, as that is actually simply going for laughs. The zombies are extra only a means for placing these characters in an attention-grabbing scenario, relatively than really giving us any scares. The zombies are handled very unseriously, with there even being glitter embedded of their pores and skin/look. They aren’t a menace and supply extra laughs than scares. As long as you go in with these expectations, I’d say it’s rather more digestible.
The movie has fairly an ensemble, with Katy O’Brian, Riki Lindholme, Margaret Cho, Jack Haven, and Jacquel Spivey all getting an opportunity to shine. Even Tom Savini makes an excellent cameo at one level, because the mayor of New York. It is a very giant forged, but everybody feels absolutely shaped and never merely caricatures.
Clearly, a movie about drag queens goes to be very LGBTQ constructive, and it feels applicable for the occasions we stay in. Like her father, Tina is ready to have a social message, this time with the easy message of: “Hey, queer people are people too.” It helps that Queens of the Useless‘s best energy is its characters, who’re infinitely entertaining and come out of the display. Tina is sort of able to dealing with the performances and dialogue, making all the things really feel pure in a method that unbiased cinema can generally wrestle with.
As a drag film with enjoyable characters, Queens of the Useless is fairly entertaining. However as soon as it enters zombie mode, it feels extra like satire than something associated to horror. I feel this is able to be advantageous if it weren’t coming from the daughter of George Romero. Clearly, that brings with it a number of baggage, and it’s sadly a little bit of a disappointment in that regard. Each character demise looks like “this has to happen to get rid of characters” versus really having a trigger and impact. Had there been just a bit extra stakes, the general product would have significantly benefited.
Finally, as a lot as I loved the characters, Queens of the Useless was a bit too foolish at occasions for me. It additionally ends very abruptly, with out a lot of a 3rd act. There may have simply been a minimum of ten extra minutes, and given us just a little extra of a climactic third act. As a substitute, there’s a number of setup with out a ton of payoff. Romero proves to have a number of potential so this could nonetheless be thought-about an enormous win for her, as she definitely has her father’s knack for social commentary. Whereas this does really feel relatively area of interest general, that area of interest goes to utterly love this.
Queens of the Useless is Streaming on Shudder on October twenty fourth, 2025.
