Movie Type: Psychological Thriller, Childhood Drama
Themes: Ghosts, Psychic Abilities
Main Cast: Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco, Katherine Helmond, Jason Presson
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 92 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
In this supernatural nostalgia piece, a young boy tracks down a murderer with help from the ghosts of a slain little girl and her mother. In a voice-over, grown-up writer Frankie Scarlatti describes the disturbing events that intruded on his idyllic small-town boyhood. Locked in the school cloakroom by some other boys on Halloween 1962, young Frankie (Lukas Haas) encounters the ghost of Melissa Anne Montgomery (Joelle Jacobi), who re-enacts her own death by strangulation just before an unseen adult enters the school and tries to do away with Frankie himself. While recuperating in the care of his widower father (Alex Rocco), Frankie conducts some detective work and learns that Melissa is one of ten children killed over the past decade. Further encounters with the girl's ghost -- and the mournful specter of her mother, the Lady in White (Karen Powell) -- do little to help the boy solve the mystery of who killed the kids. Meanwhile, an innocent black maintenance man becomes the scapegoat on which the police hang the killings. However, thanks to the damning but enigmatic evidence Frankie has discovered, the boy faces imminent danger from the actual killer, who ends up lurking terrifyingly close to home. The sophomore feature from writer/director Frank LaLoggia, who made his name with the low-budget horror film Fear No Evil, Lady in White starred the young Lukas Haas halfway between his appearances in Witness and Rambling Rose. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
Although it features some moments of spooky charm and sincere melancholy -- and a precocious lead performance by whippersnapper Lukas Haas -- this curious mishmash can't fully satisfy. A blend of gothic intrigue and Leave It to Beaver-style nostalgia, Lady in White lurches from wide-eyed terror to cutesiness and back again. But the corny elements never really gel with the disturbing ones. Sophomore writer/director Frank LaLoggia tries too hard to emulate coming-of-age classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird and the contemporaneous Stand By Me. In the end, he merely undercuts his own main strength: the ability to evoke the atmospheric angst of youngsters lost in a world full of adults with the power to hurt them. The scenes involving the titular specter prove moody and affecting, suffused with a sadness that's genuinely touching. However, the well-meaning Italian stereotypes of Frankie's family and the long stretches of aw-shucks earnestness dissipate such momentum (especially in the longer director's cut). As the film builds toward its terrifying climax, it regains some of its footing. But then the operatic finale gets bungled by a profusion of obvious blue-screen shots and over-the-top thrills. If all of the good bits were at the beginning or at the end, Lady in White would be a better film. Instead, its quality varies wildly from scene to scene, resulting in a frustrating two-hour experience. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Renata Vanni - Mama Assunta; Angelo Bertolini - Papa Charlie; Jared Rushton - Donald; Gregory Levinson - Louie; Joelle Jacob - Melissa; Hal Bokar; Tom Bower; Lucy Lee Flippin; Michael Gwynne; Bruno Kirby; Sidney Lassick; Rita Zohar; Frank LaLoggia - Adult Frankie
Credit
Howard Kling - Art Director, Kenneth Wolf, Jr. - Art Director, Carla Reynolds - Associate Producer, Matthew John McFadden - Boom Operator, Lynn Stalmaster - Casting, Mali Finn - Casting, David W. Gray - Consultant/advisor, John Massari - Conductor, Andrew G. La Marca - Co-producer, Frank LaLoggia - Co-producer, Jacqueline Saint Anne - Costume Designer, Betsy Pollock - First Assistant Director, Frank LaLoggia - Director, Steve Mann - Editor, Charles M. La Loggia - Executive Producer, Cliff Payne - Executive Producer, Cheri Montesanto-Medcalf - Hair Styles, Frank Montesanto - Hair Styles, Stratton Rawson - Location Manager, Stephanie Spangler - Location Manager, Frank LaLoggia - Composer (Music Score), John Massari - Musical Direction/Supervision, Cheri Montesanto-Medcalf - Makeup, Ann Montesanto - Makeup, Jeff Jur - Camera Operator, M. Todd Henry - Camera Operator, Thomas Grubbs - Camera Operator, Richard Hummel - Production Designer, Russell Carpenter - Cinematographer, Daryn Okada - Cinematographer, Kelly Van Horn - Production Manager, Charles M. La Loggia - Producer, Sarah Burdick - Set Designer, Tom Chesney - Special Effects, Fantasy II Film Effects - Special Effects, Image Engineering - Special Effects, Robert Anderson, Jr. - Sound/Sound Designer, Sam Caylor - Sound Editor, Josef von Stroheim - Sound Editor, Cliff Cudney - Stunts, Debbie Wilson - Stunts, Rawn Hutchinson - Stunts Coordinator, Ernest D. Farino - Special Effects Supervisor, Gene Warren, Jr. - Special Effects Supervisor, Frank LaLoggia - Screenwriter, Aimee East - Production Assistant, Betzy Bromberg - Visual Effects Supervisor, Bette Cohen - Additional Editing, David Andrews Peters - First Assistant Camera, Paul Laufer - First Assistant Camera, Barbu Marion - First Assistant Camera, Paul Hughen - First Assistant Camera, Kent Hughes - First Assistant Camera, Mark Jackson - First Assistant Camera, Vincent LaLoggia - First Assistant Camera, Albert Malvaez - First Assistant Camera, Stephen Crawford - Gaffer, Robert de Looze - Grip, Angelo Cicero - Grip, Duane Journey - Grip, Renton-Paul Medcalf - Grip, Richard Orrange - Grip, Thomas Smith - Grip, Jim Thorpe - Grip, Michael R. Thorpe - Grip, Robert Watson, Jr. - Grip, Robert Stone - Key Grip, Jane Bartelme - Production Coordinator, Lorie Zerweck - Production Coordinator, Anne LaLopa - Properties, Michael Courville - Properties, Ray West - Re-Recording Mixer, Joseph D. Citarella - Re-Recording Mixer, Annie Welles - Script Supervisor, Heidi Gutman - Second Assistant Director, Jim Kundig - Special Effects Assistant, Peter M. Chesney - Special Effects Coordinator, Alan Caso - Steadicam Operator, Peter C. Jensen - Steadicam Operator, Marsha Lynn Blackburn - Still Photographer, Anthony Ippolito - Supervising Sound Editor, Sally Smith - Costume/Wardrobe, Janice Flating - Costume/Wardrobe, Fred Lloyd - Costume/Wardrobe, Susan Camusi - Costume/Wardrobe, Art Ottinger - ADR Editor, John Dennehy - Art Department Assistant, Cindy Gess - Art Department Assistant, Russell Rebmann - Art Department Assistant, Teri Durston - Assistant Production Coordinator, Shelly Seymour - Assistant Production Coordinator, Sara Lee Wade - Assistant Properties, Mark Bero - Assistant Properties, Kenny S. Christiansen - Best Boy Electric, Cobie Fair - Best Boy Grip, Harlan M. Freedman - Dolly Grip, Eric Ward - Electrician, Huston Beaumont - Electrician, Brian Crane - Electrician, Dirk Large - Electrician, Frank Reiber - Electrician, Thom Soris - Electrician, Janet Cunningham - Extra Casting, Gary Matwijkow - Extra Casting, Richard Currie - First Assistant Editor, Gregg Barbanell - Foley Artist, Kim Fowler - Foley Artist, Don Crosby - Foley Editor, F. Lee Stone - Leadman, Christine Bodine - Scenic Artist, Donna Santy - Scenic Artist, Sandy Collister - Second Second Assistant Director, Sherri Lubov - Second Second Assistant Director, Lee Everage - Second Second Assistant Director, Michael Moran - Set Dresser, Dawn Boeheim - Set Dresser, Gordon Guard - Set Dresser, Mindy Saffran - Set Dresser, John Jeff Ungar - Set Dresser, Kit Hellman - Set Dresser, Darryl Henley - Storyboard Artist, Mack Gordon - Featured Music, Harry Revel - Featured Music, Dennis Brookins - Negative Cutter, Emmet Kane - Special Effects Technician, Carl Zollo - Art Department Coordinator
Lady in White is a 1988Americanhorror film of the ghost/mystery genre. Much of the film was made in Wayne County, New York, taking advantage of appropriate local color. The movie is based on the story of The Lady in White who supposedly searches for her daughter in Durand-Eastman Park in Rochester, New York while protecting young women who are on dates with their boyfriends.
On Halloween, 9-year-old Frankie Scarlatti (Lukas Haas) is locked into the school cloak room by school bullies Donald (Jared Rushton) and Louie (Gregory Levinson). Later that night, Frankie witnesses the murder of the ghost Melissa Anne Montgomery (Joelle Jacobi) by a darkened figure. The figure strangles Frankie, but Frankie lives and is soon found by the police.
Soon, all Frankie can see is the ghost of Melissa and he befriends her. Frankie tries to figure out the identity of the killer before they can kill again, to return Melissa to the ghost of her mother, and bring solace to the mysterious Lady in White who roams the town he lives in.
In order to prepare him for an emotional scene, director Frank LaLoggia tried to convince young star Lukas Haas that his mother had been killed.[citation needed]
