“I’m going to make sure your last few breaths feel like hell”: Blaxploitation as a Language for Black Women’s Vengeance in Alice

Abstract: This article examines Krystin Ver Linden’s 2022 film Alice as a fusion of plantation horror and Blaxploitation genres that attempts to navigate the complex terrain of depicting Black women’s trauma and resistance on-screen. Drawing on the true story of Mae Louise Miller, who escaped modern-day enslavement in the 1960s, Alice employs a palimpsestic approach to temporality, layering the nineteenth-century plantation with 1970s Blaxploitation tropes. The analysis explores how the film utilizes Blaxploitation, particularly Pam Grier’s iconic performances, as a cinematic language to portray Black women’s righteous vengeance against historical and ongoing brutality.