Lady in White is directed, produced & written by Frank LaLoggia. It stars Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco, and Katherine Helmond.
Lady In White arrived to no great fanfare in 1988, it got a limited release in theatres and promptly vanished from the public view. However, it did find a cult following thanks to the burgeoning success of the VHS home format. It seemed that, for home viewings at least, there was a market for a good old fashioned ghost story with a mystery killer kicker at its core. 1988 was the year that cash cow blood movies really started to bang the horror fans over the head. There were sequels for Elm Street, Critters, Friday the 13th, Fright Night, Hellraiser, Halloween, Poltergeist, Phantasm, Living Dead and Killer Tomatoes. But in amongst all that grue and lazy film making were two smart atmospheric movies splicing fantasy realms with their horror. One was the magnificent Paperhouse, the other was of course Lady In White.
It would be foolish of me to claim that Lady In White is flawless because that simply isn't the case, the rubbish score and its budgetary restrictions mean it simply hasn't aged as well as the afore mentioned Paperhouse. Suffice to say this isn't a film for everyone, and certainly not for those who drooled spittle over Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers or Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. But LaLoggia's ambition and genuine affection for his story lifts this far above many of 1988's tepid releases.
Plot sees Lukas Haas play Frankie, a young boy who as part of a bully prank gets locked in the school cloak-room on Halloween night 1962. Whilst there he observes the ghostly apparition of a young girl, from where he then learns how she sadly became a ghost in the first place. First as he witnesses her murder, then as he is attacked by the unknown assailant who has returned to the cloak-room for some incriminating evidence he left behind. Surviving the attack (one of the film's itchy flaws since the killer must closely know him to let him live), Frankie embarks upon a mission to uncover the story behind the little girl's murder. It's a story that involves ghosts wandering around searching for closure, a serial child killer and the potentially wrongful incarceration of the school's black janitor. All of which is set in the delightfully named Willowpoint Falls; which by day has ethereal charm, but by night oozes with creepy hues.
It's using this home town feel of small Americana that gives the film its solid base to build from. LaLoggia knows that we have seen all too many ghost stories framed around the creepy mansion formula, so he sets this up in and around an everyday life that most can identify with. This Capraesque type town has a very human feel to it, thus the dark secrets that unravel gain added chills. It's an approach that David Koepp's criminally undervalued Stir Of Echoes would harness in 1999. LaLoggia's movie also benefits from strong performances from the principal actors, with Haas (unassuming with commonsense child mannerisms) & Rocco (emotionally tortured but stoic father) playing out two of the best turns in the horror calendar year.
Guessing the killer isn't hard, and in fact he shows up rather too early. While the motive(s) for the monstrous acts that are committed here are never given (he just does it it seems). But this is a clever and well made film. The monsters lay not with the ghosts that glide in and out of Frankie's life, but in the maniac that kills children and the racist undertones that bubbles behind the surface of Willowpoint Falls' pretty facade. Factors that sadly over 30 years on still trouble society greatly. 7.5/10
Lady In White arrived to no great fanfare in 1988, it got a limited release in theatres and promptly vanished from the public view. However, it did find a cult following thanks to the burgeoning success of the VHS home format. It seemed that, for home viewings at least, there was a market for a good old fashioned ghost story with a mystery killer kicker at its core. 1988 was the year that cash cow blood movies really started to bang the horror fans over the head. There were sequels for Elm Street, Critters, Friday the 13th, Fright Night, Hellraiser, Halloween, Poltergeist, Phantasm, Living Dead and Killer Tomatoes. But in amongst all that grue and lazy film making were two smart atmospheric movies splicing fantasy realms with their horror. One was the magnificent Paperhouse, the other was of course Lady In White.
It would be foolish of me to claim that Lady In White is flawless because that simply isn't the case, the rubbish score and its budgetary restrictions mean it simply hasn't aged as well as the afore mentioned Paperhouse. Suffice to say this isn't a film for everyone, and certainly not for those who drooled spittle over Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers or Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. But LaLoggia's ambition and genuine affection for his story lifts this far above many of 1988's tepid releases.
Plot sees Lukas Haas play Frankie, a young boy who as part of a bully prank gets locked in the school cloak-room on Halloween night 1962. Whilst there he observes the ghostly apparition of a young girl, from where he then learns how she sadly became a ghost in the first place. First as he witnesses her murder, then as he is attacked by the unknown assailant who has returned to the cloak-room for some incriminating evidence he left behind. Surviving the attack (one of the film's itchy flaws since the killer must closely know him to let him live), Frankie embarks upon a mission to uncover the story behind the little girl's murder. It's a story that involves ghosts wandering around searching for closure, a serial child killer and the potentially wrongful incarceration of the school's black janitor. All of which is set in the delightfully named Willowpoint Falls; which by day has ethereal charm, but by night oozes with creepy hues.
It's using this home town feel of small Americana that gives the film its solid base to build from. LaLoggia knows that we have seen all too many ghost stories framed around the creepy mansion formula, so he sets this up in and around an everyday life that most can identify with. This Capraesque type town has a very human feel to it, thus the dark secrets that unravel gain added chills. It's an approach that David Koepp's criminally undervalued Stir Of Echoes would harness in 1999. LaLoggia's movie also benefits from strong performances from the principal actors, with Haas (unassuming with commonsense child mannerisms) & Rocco (emotionally tortured but stoic father) playing out two of the best turns in the horror calendar year.
Guessing the killer isn't hard, and in fact he shows up rather too early. While the motive(s) for the monstrous acts that are committed here are never given (he just does it it seems). But this is a clever and well made film. The monsters lay not with the ghosts that glide in and out of Frankie's life, but in the maniac that kills children and the racist undertones that bubbles behind the surface of Willowpoint Falls' pretty facade. Factors that sadly over 30 years on still trouble society greatly. 7.5/10