Lady in White
Dir: Frank LaLoggia
1988
*****
Frank LaLoggia's creepy 1988 classic is based on the global Lady in White legend. Many different countries and cultures tell a similar tale of a ghostly female figure who wonders certain areas at night. The ladies in white are usually said to be ghosts of ladies who have lost someone or who have been betrayed in some way. LaLoggia's particular Lady in white is loosely based on the legend of a ghost who is said to roam Durand-eastman Park in Rochester, New York, close to where the film was shot. The film is the perfect visualization of a scary story you'd tell each other on sleepovers or around a camp fire. It's classed as a kids film but it scared me to pieces the first time I saw it as a child and it still has the same effect on me now as an adult. There is a wonderful fantasy element about the film too, it's almost dreamlike, albeit a bad dream, an eerily familiar and insidious bad dream at that. LaLoggia has tapped into a child's nightmare. I love the Nightmare on Elm Street series as much as anyone but I didn't have bad dreams about characters like Freddy Kruger, I had bad dreams about Ghosts and people watching me as I slept. The the scariest element of the film is probably the idea of getting locked in school overnight, surely the worst possible situation for any child. When Lukas Haas' character Frankie (still the best role of his career) tries to convince his family of what he's seen, you can't help but scream at the screen with him, such is the film's flawless ability to embroil and involve the viewer. It's a childhood favorite of mine that I think still holds up today. It should be watched with the lights off, under a blanket, with hot chocolate, late on Christmas Eve.