Nina West & Tomas Matos on Drag, Zombies, and Queer Joy in QUEENS OF THE DEAD

Nina West in Tina Romero's QUEENS OF THE DEAD | Courtesy of Shannon Madden. An Independent Film Company and Shudder Release.

By Shannon McGrew

In QUEENS OF THE DEAD, from director Tina Romero, daughter of legendary horror director George Romero, a zombie apocalypse breaks out in Brooklyn on the night of a giant warehouse party, where an eclectic group of drag queens, club kids, and frenemies must put aside their drama and use their unique skills to fight against the brain-thirsty, scrolling undead.

For the Shudder release of QUEENS OF THE DEAD, Creepy Kingdom’s Shannon McGrew spoke with actors Nina West and Tomas Matos, who portray the seasoned drag queen Ginsey Tonic and the vivacious Nico, aka Scrumptious. During their conversation, they discussed blending drag and horror, crafting iconic looks, and why the film’s celebration of queer joy and resilience feels especially vital right now.

It’s such an honor to speak with you both today! Can you talk about the excitement of bringing horror and drag together for QUEENS OF THE DEAD? 

Nina West: One of the exciting things about being a part of this project was when I saw who was on the call sheet. When I saw who was going to be in the room and on set, that was what really excited me, because it was almost entirely LGBTQIA+ cast and crew, except for a very few, which is usually the other way around. I was such a fan of Tomas and his work in Fire Island, among many other things, like “Hadestown.” I just knew what we were creating was something really special because we had the opportunity to do something queer. We were working with Tina Romero, honoring the legacy her father had really created, and also letting her take her vision and guide us on a new path. I think that was the most exciting part of this whole process for me. To have drag be part of this now canon is really, really vital, important, crazy, fun, camp, vibrant, and fabulous.

Tomas Matos: When I think of queer horror or drag queens and horror, I think of the Boulet Brothers. They already have a platform, so we are just adding to it and bringing our own flair to the feature film world. Being a queer person, I’ve always been drawn to [horror] just because we as queer people know what it feels like to be othered or be hunted, like a lot of people are in the horror genre. It feels like a reclamation of sorts, or like we have always been like the subtitle of it, or we have always been drawn to it, and now we’re actually being able to make our stance and reclaim what was always ours. 

Jaquel Spivey, Tomas Matos, and Nina West in Tina Romero's QUEENS OF THE DEAD. Courtesy of Shannon Madden. An Independent Film Company and Shudder Release.

How about the costume choices for your characters? Was that something you had input on, or was it already decided before you came on board? 

Tomas Matos: For me, yes [Laughs]. I’ve worked with the costume designer David Tabbert on a previous film, Fire Island. For both Fire Island and QUEENS OF THE DEAD, David was very receptive to what I wanted to bring to the character to the point where the mood board for Scrumptious was just all photos of me, which I was like, okay, work, I can do that [Laughs]. 

Nina West: Working with David Tabbert was a joy because the mood boards were reflective of some images of me and some images of the style of drag that I do, which is large camp drag, like really colorful drag. So those things really informed what we were doing. When I wore that peep dress in the opening, I mean, it’s such an homage to high camp and glam, and that input was all derivative of the work that David had studied up on and brought to the table. David is also a huge, massive drag fan, so that also allowed the language to be there from the outset and allowed me to fill those clothes. 

QUEENS OF THE DEAD is such a celebration of queer visibility, and the movie allows queer people to exist without there being some trauma solely directed at them. What do you hope queer audiences take away from seeing this movie and the characters you both portray?

Nina West: What we need now more than anything is this movie. This movie gives joy. Who knew when we were making this movie a year ago and when Tina was writing this movie with Erin Judge how ever many years ago, and this has been in production, who knew that it would come out at this time when people are trying to silence queer voices, trying to silence our trans community, trying to continue to other us and push into closets and behind doors. This movie comes at the perfect time to remind all of us in this community how much better we are together and how fabulous and wonderful our voices are together. I hope this movie sparks joy. I really hope this movie gives queer joy to people, even those who may not know what that is or know how to experience it, whether that’s giving them an outlet for a smile or a laugh or grabbing somebody else’s hand in a movie theater and just reassuring them that they matter too. 

Tomas Matos: I would echo all of that. I also think the word zombie could be replaced in today’s world with bigotry, with the current administration, and queer people would already know how to face it. This film is a way in for someone who maybe feels defeated or doesn’t know how to stand up and fight for our rights, which they are currently trying to take away. I hope that yes, it’s a way for people to find joy, but also a way for people to find resilience and to be able to see that it is possible, we can stand up for ourselves if it’s a zombie or an orange fricking president, whoever it is, we are very capable. 

QUEENS OF THE DEAD is now available to stream on Shudder.