Like so many before and after him, Frank LaLoggia had a hard time when he first started out in the film business. Yet after booking several roles as an actor, the Rochester native seemed to finally catch his big break. He had been given the chance to write and direct a feature film. Unfortunately, LaLoggia’s disillusionment with the industry set in while working on 1981’s Fear No Evil. Severe studio interference was the main cause of his disappointment, and as a result, LaLoggia took an extended break from filmmaking. However, the time off between his debut and Lady in White proved to be beneficial; LaLoggia returned from his long leave with what many regard as the best film of his career.
With a story partly based on a well-known urban legend from the director’s neck of the woods, it was understandable when people assumed LaLoggia’s sophomore film was also of the horror persuasion. Unlike Fear No Evil, though, Lady in White can’t be boxed into a single genre. LaLoggia has taken issue with the “horror” label only because it doesn’t quite apply to his second film; he’s more comfortable with “thriller” or “ghost story.” Over the years, fans have described this film as gateway horror, but they liken it more to The Watcher in the Woods than, say, Hocus Pocus or Casper. There are chilling moments in Lady in White that warrant its PG-13 rating.
One major appeal of Lady in White is its appearance. Anyone craving autumnal comforts and atmosphere will instantly be drawn in by this period film’s first signs of worldbuilding. While this is a semi-autobiographical story, LaLoggia chose to shoot in areas around his old stomping grounds of Rochester; places like Lyons, Phelps and South Bristol were all used to form the fictional hamlet of Willowpoint Falls. This approach provides the film a storybook feel as well as makes the eventual horror elements more effective.
To make that small town charm even more persuasive, the film is set in picturesque 1962. Lukas Haas’ character’s morning rush to school on Halloween gives the audience a quick but informative snapshot of everyday life in Willowpoint Falls, only now with an October twist. A pharmacist sweeps crispy fall leaves off the steps of an old-fashioned apothecary, a woman adds candy corn to an already well festooned display window, and a sassy server struggles to keep up at a bustling diner. As the viewers soon learn, it’s a cozy routine on the cusp of ruin.
Nine-year-old Frankie Scarlatti (Haas), whose typical wardrobe is adorned with a homemade Bela Lugosi Dracula mask and cape at the film’s start, is largely based on LaLoggia’s own childhood self. Even the short piece of creative writing Frankie reads aloud to his class is inspired by something the director wrote when he was younger. That insight into life back then is channeled with a degree of accuracy, but the cinematic sheen provided by Russell Carpenter makes everything come across as more expressive. The warm colors and soft lighting of the classroom scene alone are sure to stoke nostalgia even for those who didn’t experience this kind of life.
The idyllic quality of Willowpoint Falls gradually fades following the events of that Halloween. Upon being locked in the coatroom by his classmates after school, Frankie witnesses not only a young girl’s ghost but also the attempt of someone trying to cover up an old crime. Several, in fact. A serial child murderer, dubbed the Cliffside Killer, returns after years of inactivity and nearly makes Frankie his next victim. This horrifying encounter leads to the film’s first significant demonstration of its dated but potent cocktail of visual effects. As Frankie almost succumbs to his mysterious attacker, he experiences a string of memories of both a painful past and a possible future.
The black screen and blue screen techniques in the coatroom scene, respectively used for the apparition and Frankie’s surreal near-death experience, don’t look at all realistic, and from a modern standpoint, they definitely have an ‘80s timestamp on them. However, the intention of those and the film’s other effects isn’t necessarily realism. Death is an undeniable part of everyone’s life, but that doesn’t make it any less confusing. Especially to a kid like Frankie. And Lady in White’s own reading of death, one told through a child’s eyes, is a compelling meeting of actuality and fantasy.
Death is inevitable, but as Lady in White shows, it’s often unnatural. Society will then do bad things to make sense of something as senseless as the murder of children. Frankie’s Halloween ordeal causes a furor as the school janitor, a Black man named Harold (Henry Harris), is scapegoated as the Cliffside Killer. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is all Harold is guilty of, though. The film’s initial romanticization of ‘60s America is shaken by the unavoidable truth of systemic racism inherent to that era. As easy as it would have been to exclude this subplot in the vein of To Kill a Mockingbird, cherry-picking the past can have consequences not just for filmmaking but society as a whole.
Although Lady in White is bookmarked as essential Halloween viewing, the story goes beyond October and enters the winter holidays. LaLoggia temporarily dials back the film’s warm complexion before bringing it back for the fiery finale. Doing so makes sense given how intense the emotions are in the first and last acts. In the meantime, the mystery of the Cliffside Killer’s true identity goes on as Harold’s legal case is dragged out, and the film’s namesake (played by Karen Powell and, to a slight extent, Katherine Helmond) comes into unquestionable view. Anyone expecting a tale about the titular phantom will be surprised to learn how little the otherworldly character is shown on screen. Her appearances are indeed limited, yet she has a profound effect on the characters and story. She proves to be a ghost not worthy of people’s fear, but rather of their pity.
There is a great deal of loss seen in the film. It’s overwhelming how much pain these many characters have endured in such a short amount of time (at least from the audience’s point of view). In the end, though, relief comes in huge and unmistakable waves. That sense of heartwarming catharsis also extends to the filmmaker, whose fierce efforts to make Lady in White — as he originally envisioned and without the same kind of studio meddling that affected his first film — paid off in the long run.
Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.
The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.
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