Lady in White movie synopsis. It’s Halloween 1962, and Frankie (Lukas Haas) has been locked in the school’s cloakroom after the last bell has rung for the day by the school bullies Donald (Jared Rushton) and Louie (Gregory Levinson). Trapped well after dark, he witnesses the ghostly scene of a brutal attack on a red-haired little girl. Suddenly in the present day, someone enters the cloakroom. They keenly survey the room then focus their attention on the air duct located in the floor.
While they work to unscrew the vent cover, Frankie shuffles away from a brown rat and is discovered. He quickly pulls his Halloween mask over his face as the stranger walks toward him menacingly asking “Who are you?”. Before Frankie can give a coherent answer, he is snatched off the ledge and choked. He loses consciousness and again sees the girl however, this time, she asks for his help to find her mother. Without warning, Frankie is revived by his father Angelo (Alex Rocco) and rushed to the hospital. The police arrest the black janitor, Harold “Willy” Williams (Henry Harris), believing him to be Frankie’s attacker.
As Frankie recovers at home, Frankie’s brother Geno (Jason Presson) brings him a newspaper article about the attack. As background to Frankie’s attack, the newspaper reports the mysterious and unsolved deaths of eleven other children – all apparently at the hands of a child serial killer. By Geno’s reaction, this is a well-known but suppressed series of crimes that the community is well aware of. Startled, Frankie recognizes the picture of the red-haired girl by the photo printed in the newspaper – Melissa Ann Montgomery (Joelle Jacobi), the very first victim.
Melissa begins to haunt Frankie, and the two form a tenuous friendship. Striving to help her, he returns to the cloakroom to investigate. Remembering that his attacker began unscrewing the grating over the air vent prior to the attack, he removes the cover and finds several dust-laden objects: a few toys, a hair clip, and a high school class ring. Frankie pockets the hair clip and ring then leaves.
Lady in White is a 1988 American horror film of the ghost/mystery genre. Much of the filming took place in Wayne County, New York, which took advantage of the appropriate local lore and scenery. The movie is based on a version of the The Lady in White legend, concerning a woman who supposedly searches for her daughter in Durand-Eastman Park in Rochester, NY. The film was directed, produced, and written by Frank LaLoggia, a native of Rochester.
Lady in White (1988)
Directed by: Frank LaLoggia
Starring: Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco, Katherine Helmond, Jason Presson, Renata Vanni, Angelo Bertolini, Joelle Jacobi, Lucy Lee Flippin
Screenplay by: Frank LaLoggia
Production Design by: Richard K. Hummel
Cinematography by: Russell Carpenter
Film Editing by: Steve Mann
Costume Design by: Jacqueline Saint Anne
Set Decoration by: Sarah Burdick Stone
Art Direction by: Howard Kling, Kenneth Wolf Jr.
Music by: Frank LaLoggia
Distributed by: New Century Vista Film Company
Release Date: April 22, 1988
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