LADY IN WHITE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1997 Mark R. Leeper
I understand that on July 2 the film LADY IN WHITE from 1988 will be released on videodisk from Elite Entertainment. Frank LaLoggia, auteur of the film, contacted me and asked if I would be willing to re-post my review of the film. So I cannot claim that this testimonial is entirely unsolicited. However, I would probably want to republish the review for my own purposes. I am pleased to hear that the film is becoming available again in some form since it is on my list of "hidden treasures," films that I think not enough people know about and which I think really should be made more available. (Other films on the list include A SUMMER STORY, RESURRECTION, TURTLE BEACH, SMILE, and perhaps TO FIND A MAN.)
In the 1988 review below I predicted that this film would be remembered as one of the best ghost stories on film by the year 2008. I am a little more cautious in my predictions these days, but who knows? So far its scarceness has worked against that prediction. It seems to be well-received by the critics but in my opinion it still seems under-appreciated or at least under-recognized by the general viewing public. The film manages to at the same time be very evocative of childhood and still work as an adult horror film. My recommendation is see the if you can at all manage it. The laserdisk was supervised by LaLoggia, a man who seems to take pains to do things just about perfectly. It is presented letter-boxed , includes six more minutes of film... it looks like it will be a very nice package. But I am not recommending the laserdisk specifically (sorry, Frank) I am just recommending that people may want to see the LADY IN WHITE in some form and saying that I am pleased that the film is available again.
In any case, the following is my original review:
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LADY IN WHITE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Twenty years from now Lady in White will be considered one of the best ghost stories ever put on film. Frank LaLoggia has made a beautiful film that raises more than a little gooseflesh. Rating: +3.
Oddly enough, while the ghost story is probably the most commonly written breed of horror story, it is very uncommon as a type of horror film. Perhaps there is a feeling that they do not translate well to film. Ghost stories are usually mood pieces and directors who know how to capture moods generally have other kinds of films they want to make. Ghost stories that have really worked on film have done so by hinting and by creating a--let's be frank--morbid mood in the audience. The good ones have been THE HAUNTING, THE INNOCENTS, THE UNINVITED, and perhaps THE CHANGLING. (Hmmm. I never noticed before how similar the titles were.) Two films that definitely do not make it as ghost stories are GHOST STORY and POLTERGEIST. While I liked POLTERGEIST, it was really more science fiction on the astral plane than a ghost story. Each of these two films has been too overpowering to make it as the subtle mood piece that a good ghost tale should be. In fact, of the classic ghost stories I mentioned, only one was even in color. The other three depended on a dark mood that is very hard to achieve in color. Now a ghost story has come along on film that ranks with the classics-perhaps even surpasses them. LADY IN WHITE is a ghost story in color, but it never overwhelms. It is a very fine mood piece and the use of color in the film enhances the mood rather than fighting it. And the story is worthy of the mood, and the photography is worthy of the story.
LADY IN WHITE was written, directed, scored, and produced by Frank LaLoggia. That can be either a very good sign or a very bad sign in a low-budget film. LADY IN WHITE is very clearly one man's vision and dream brought to the screen. I grew up in New England and I can tell you that no other place have I seen where autumn is so melodramatic. The world turns bright hues of red and brown and yellow as it rages against the dying of the warm. LaLoggia captures the melancholic autumn with a small town feel somewhere between that of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. Like those films, this is a story of children and growth, but it also raises gooseflesh in ways that are all too rare in horror films.
It is, in fact, the story of Frankie Scarlatti, whom I suspect is made up in no small part of little Frankie LaLoggia from about 25 years ago. Frankie loves Halloween and monsters of all sorts. He tells such a good Halloween story of the "prehysterical" monster that stomps London that jealous classmates arrange for him to be locked in the cloakroom closet. In the old school that has served generations, years mean very little and he is visited by the spirit of a little girl his own age, or she was when she died eleven years earlier...a death that the spirit must re-live over and over.
Even if the main story were not good-and it is-this would be a marvelously textured film. Characters like Frankie's grandfather, his father, and his brother are drawn with a loving pen. Frankie himself is played by Lucas Haas who, young as he is, is the veteran of films like TESTAMENT and WITNESS. the film carries the viewer along, often to unexpected vistas, without making one false move until the final five minutes. LaLoggia has problems ending the story without making it a little goofy and a little cliched. But until the final minutes of the film LADY IN WHITE is a positive gem of film-making. Even mistakes in the special effects work for the film. Rate it an admiring +3 on the -4 to +4 scale.
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Mark R. Leeper, Lucent Technologies/Bell Laboratories
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