By Nick A. Zaino IIIUpdated October 24, 2025, 11:33 a.m.<\/p>\n
When Erin Judge was performing stand-up in Boston nearly 20 years ago, it would have been impossible to guess she would wind up co-writing a zombie movie with Tina Romero, daughter of zombie film pioneer George Romero<\/a>, who made \u201cNight of the Living Dead,\u201d \u201cDawn of the Dead,\u201d and \u201cDay of the Dead.\u201d But there were signs.<\/p>\n Judge has always been a social and political satirist, going back to her days hosting her sketch revue \u201cErin Judge Presents\u201d at the original Comedy Studio<\/a> in the Hong Kong in Harvard Square. Judge remembers doing a zombie sketch in 2005, an early collaboration with Romero, a DJ and filmmaker. \u201cIt heavily involved the \u2018Thriller\u2019 choreography,\u201d said Judge, speaking by Zoom along with Romero. \u201cTina choreographed it and came and taught the comedians and me how to do the \u2018Thriller\u2019 dance as part of this sketch that we did on stage at the Comedy Studio.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI forgot about that,\u201d said Romero, who also directed the movie. \u201cMaybe we were somehow laying the groundwork for this.<\/p>\n The duo\u2019s new collaboration is \u201cQueens of the Dead,\u201d a new zombie movie opening this weekend about a group of drag artists, influencers, and clubgoers in Brooklyn battling for their lives after a zombie plague hits the city.<\/p>\n Judge, a 2002 Wellesley graduate, met Romero at her alma mater through a mutual friend while Romero was still a student there. As queer women with a lot of friends in common, the two bonded quickly, but drifted geographically and professionally in the years after meeting. Judge continued performing stand-up and hosts a regular show at the Ripped Bodice romantic bookstore in Los Angeles, and published a novel called \u201cVow of Celibacy<\/a>\u201d in 2016. Romero became a popular DJ in New York under the name DJ TRx.<\/p>\n