Upcoming Slasher Film ‘White Knuckle’ Tackles Race and Gentrification.

White Knuckle Xavier Coleman


Written and directed by Xavier Coleman and produced by Miranda Kahn, White Knuckle is an upcoming slasher film that takes on race and gentrification. The project is already drawing comparisons to Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror film Get Out which also explores race relations using a horror movie framework.

White Knuckle stars Kendra Holloway as Jay, a young African-American woman who moves to a historically black neighborhood that is undergoing gentrification with her brother Rich, after graduating from college.

Jay and Rich are an early-20s Black American sister and brother duo who recently moved into a beautiful, Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhood where the film is set. Having been raised in a predominantly white, wealthy suburb, the siblings yearn to have their new home provide some insight into their Black cultural identity.

Jay and Rich soon find themselves dealing with a serial killer who appears to be targeting the neighborhoods newer residents.

Coleman was inspired to write White Knuckle after moving to Brooklyn’s history Bed-Stuy neighborhood.

“By the time I arrived to the neighborhood — part of a larger area known as “brownstone Brooklyn” by early gentrifiers — I noticed that although there was still some sense of community and black cultural significance, for the most part it seemed to be fading away,” he says.

Watch a teaser for White Knuckle below. The project is currently raising funds on Kickstarter, go HERE to support it.


White Knuckle Sneak Peek from Xavier Coleman on Vimeo.