Lady in White (1988)

September 7, 2022 7:33 AM

Locked in the cloakroom after school as a Halloween prank, Frankie (Lukas Haas) meets the ghost of a young neighborhood girl, Melissa Anne Montgomery (Joelle Jacobi), who had been found strangled to death 10 years before. Frankie soon learns that nine other children have been killed in the years since, and with the spectral help of Melissa and her mother, a grieving apparition known as The Lady in White (Karen Powell), he attempts to discover the murderer before he becomes his latest victim.

Also starring Alex Rocco, Len Cariou, and Katherine Helmond.

Written, directed, and co-produced by Frank LaLoggia.

Rotten Tomatoes has this as nice, with a 69% fresh rating.

Currently streaming in the US on Shudder and Hoopla, and free with ads on Tubi.

posted by DirtyOldTown (7 comments total)

This is a little gem. It's really a shame LaLoggia never got to make another feature. This is, at turns, hair-raising, sweetly nostalgic, funny, creepy, sleazy. Haas is great and holds the whole thing together.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:35 AM on September 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

An underappreciated, spooky and surprisingly atmospheric little movie (with a couple of jarring scenes of intense, realistic violence that kind of come out of left field in what is, essentially: what if a horror movie, but made by Amblin Entertainment?)

It's a good Halloween movie and a nice aperitif to kick off the annual seasonal marathon of horror flick watching.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:35 AM on September 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

It's a very evocative and textured look at an Italian American family of the era as well.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:08 AM on September 7, 2022

I've never even heard of this but based on your description it's on my list for October. Thank you for posting it!
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:11 AM on September 7, 2022

It would really make a great double feature with The Black Phone.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:17 AM on September 7, 2022

**SPOILER** I remember watching this as a kid (in 1988, I would turn twelve) and thinking it was really good and wow I didn't see the twist of the family friend being the killer coming. I should give it a rewatch now that's been probably thirty years!
posted by Kitteh at 11:10 AM on September 7, 2022

♫♫ Did you ever see a dream walking? Well, I did ♫♫
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:13 PM on September 7, 2022 [2 favorites]