Here's one I've been wanting to catch up with for a long time: Frank LaLoggia's LADY IN WHITE, the 1988 ghost story starring WITNESS child star Lukas Haas in his first lead performance. It's one of those films I remember seeing bits and pieces of on television all the time as a kid, but for the last couple of decades it's been very tough to track down. The story begins on Halloween in 1962 when Frankie (Haas) is locked a school closet overnight by a couple of pranksters. He witnesses a ghostly crime play out and nearly ends up being strangled by a serial killer himself, while the subsequent narrative progresses as a whodunit.
It's a little bit unwieldy as a film, with all kinds of diverse influences: Spielberg, Stephen King, and a general '80s era milieu. It explores small town bigotry and racism as a backdrop while also serving as a coming of age drama. Not really a horror, although certainly a ghost story. The special effects have dated here but the closet scene is a real wowzer, full of imagination and creativity, so it's a shame things tone down after that. Haas is a likeable lead and I think if the writing had been a bit stronger and if they'd cut out twenty minutes from the flagging midsection or so this could have been something really special. Nice to catch up with it though!
It's a little bit unwieldy as a film, with all kinds of diverse influences: Spielberg, Stephen King, and a general '80s era milieu. It explores small town bigotry and racism as a backdrop while also serving as a coming of age drama. Not really a horror, although certainly a ghost story. The special effects have dated here but the closet scene is a real wowzer, full of imagination and creativity, so it's a shame things tone down after that. Haas is a likeable lead and I think if the writing had been a bit stronger and if they'd cut out twenty minutes from the flagging midsection or so this could have been something really special. Nice to catch up with it though!