Title: Lady in White (1988)
Director: Frank LaLoggia
Cast: Lukas Haas, Katherine Helmond, Jason Presson, Joelle Jacobi, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco
Review:
Lady in White was one of my childhood favorites; I remember seeing this one when I was about 12 or 13 years old and being spooked by it a bit, but at the same time intrigued enough to see it all the way to the end. It’s the perfect introduction to the world of horror films because for a horror film, it’s not too scary, it unfolds like a fairy tale and it’s told from the point of view of a child. It’s one of those movies whose mystery captures you and you know you just have to see it through to the end. To me Lady in White had a Spielbergian flair to it. Why? Well, the film takes place in a suburban neighborhood in New York, the kids go riding their bikes through the back woods, and part of the film takes place during Halloween, all elements that we’d seen before in a couple of Spielberg’s films, most notably E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982). Also, the film is told from the point of view of Frankie, a boy who ends up trying to solve a whopper of a mystery! Spielberg directed and produced many films aimed at the pre-teen age demographic. I’m talking about films like E.T., Richard Donner’s The Goonies (1985) and Joe Dante’s Explorers (1985). Actually, one of the young actors on Lady in White (the one who plays Frankie’s older brother) is Jason Presson, one of the three adventurous kids from Explorers. So this is a film aimed at kids, yet it's also a film that deals with some very adult issues.
La Loggia set out to make a film against the Hollywood system. The desire to make a film on his own, without any studio interference came from his experiences directing a supernatural horror film called Fear No Evil (1981), coincidently I saw Fear No Evil in theaters when I was about 6 years old and it scared the crap out of me back then. It was a film about a high school student who ends up being the anti-Christ; it was kind of like a low budget version of The Omen. La Loggia directed that film, but ultimately, the studio took it from him so it could be “reworked by others”. So when he set out to make Lady In White, he swore that he’d do it on his own terms without anyone telling him to do his picture this way or that way. And that he did. He got funding on his own (about 5 million dollars) and directed his film without any studio interference whatsoever. So what we get with Lady in White is a film that turned out exactly how the director envisioned it from the very beginning. La Loggia says that he was trying to bring a truthful depiction of childhood to the film, I think he succeeded. Lukas Haas, the child actor seen in Peter Weir’s Witness (1985) gives a great performance as Frankie. He was probably chosen to play Frankie in Lady in White because in Witness, he also played a little boy who witnesses a murder. Haas lends an honest and charming performance in Lady in White; it has an air of vulnerability to it.
Rating: 5 out of 5
5 comments:
This one was criminally under-rated on its initial release, your rating was absolutely right, its actually close to being a masterwork.
Criminally underrated are definetly the right words to describe this one.
This is a book I would highly re commend for readers who want everything in a book, passion flowing throughout, adventure, mystery, and romance as well.
Too many weak points to consider this a master piece of horror. Subplots involving Frankie's parents and school janitor drag on and do little. Lukas Haas is very good.
The pros outweigh the cons with this movie, I find very little wrong with it. It does everything it sets out to do. It's atmospheric, spooky, entertaining and speaks about important issues, top that with great performances and I think the only real downside might be some of the effects, but its a minor hiccup in my book.
Post a Comment