Tina Romero, having learned to walk on the set of her father George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead, has picked up his mantle and splashed it with color in Queens Of The Dead, opening in moderate release this weekend from Independent Film Company and Shudder. Yorgos Lanthimos‘ wacky alien conspiracy thriller Bugonia with Emma Stone is out in limited release. Justin Lin returns to his indie roots in Last Days. Buzzy documentary Mistress Dispeller plays New York and LA.
In Romero’s feature directorial debut, which lurches into 150 theaters, 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. Romero and comedian Erin Judge wrote the screenplay.
The ensemble cast includes Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls), Tomas Matos (Fire Island), Nina West (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Jack Haven (I Saw the TV Glow), Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story), Dominique Jackson (Pose) and comedy legend Margaret Cho. The film world premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. It’s at 94% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes off 38 reviews.
Focus Features begins the limited release of Bugonia, the latest from Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, The Favourite, Dogtooth, The Lobster) at 17 locations in eight markets, with eight of the theaters showing the film in 35mm. Expands wide next weekend. The thriller written by Will Tracy sees two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, played by Emma Stone. convinced she is an alien intent on destroying Planet Earth.
World premiered the Venice Film Festival (see Deadline review) followed by buzzy screenings at Telluride and Fantastic Fest where fans could dive into its conspiracy-fueled universe through an underground Human Resistance campaign, cryptic billboards and a viral website hinting at alien infiltration. Some moviegoers their heads to match Stone’s bald character at the Fantastic Fest surprise screening and multiple screenings since including this past Monday in Los Angeles. It’s at 89% Certified Fresh with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Vertical debuts adventure drama Last Days by Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise, Tokyo Drift), in a return to his indie roots, on 312 screens. The film is based on the true story of missionary John Allen Chou (Sky Yang) beginning with his college years at Oral Roberts University to his mysterious and still unsolved disappearance in 2018 after embarking on an impossible journey to convert an uncontacted and extremely primitive tribe of North Sentinel Island to Christianity. Written by Ben Ripley based on an Outside magazine article. Premiered at Sundance (Deadline review here), where Lin was last seen in 2002 with his breakout indie teen crime drama Better Luck Tomorrow.
LA theaters include The Grove, Universal City, American at the Brand and 23 other playdates in SoCal. New York. it’s at Union Square, AMC Empire and 10 other playdates.
Oscilloscope is out with buzzy documentary Mistress Dispeller from executive producer Constance Wu, which opened Wednesday (10/22) at the IFC Center in NY and adds LA today (Laemmle NoHo and Monica) with a national rollout to follow. Directed by Elizabeth Lo (Stray), written by Lo and Charlotte Munch Bengtsen.
In China, a new industry has emerged devoted to helping couples stay married in the face of infidelity. Wang Zhenxi, a “mistress dispeller,” is part of this growing profession and is hired to go undercover and break up affairs by any means necessary. Offering strikingly intimate access to a real, unfolding love triangle, the film documents all sides of what is usually kept behind closed doors. As Wang attempts to bring a couple back from the edge of crisis, sympathies shift between husband, wife and mistress while emotion, pragmatism and cultural norms collide.
The doc world premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where it won the NETPAC Award (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) and the Authors Under 40 Award for director Lo. Q&As at with Constance Wu, Penny Lane and Phoebe Robinson have been selling out this week at IFC. It’s at 94% with RT critics off 31 reviews. See Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast interview with Lo.
Film Movement opens Canadian filmmaker Reza Dahya’s Toronto-set drama Boxcutter at Cinema Village in NYC starting tonight, Laemmle Noho 7/Monica 4 starting 11/3, then wider. Ashton James (Revenge of the Black Best Friend, Youngblood) stars as Rome, an aspiring rapper whose laptop is stolen. The theft sends him on an odyssey across the gentrifying streets of Toronto to recover his music in time for a potentially life-changing meeting with a Grammy winner. Premiered at SXSW, see Deadline Studio’s interview with Dahya.
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