Scarlatti - Il thriller

This is a nicely done, embracing effort that has some visual elements mindful of ET. The young people are really quite believable. There are bullies, unpredictable brothers, secrets, and lots of love in a family missing a mother. This draws us into a small town which sits on the fringes of an unnamed city. A young boy sees a ghost after being locked in an elementary school cloakroom. He comes to realize it is the restless spirit of a little girl who longs to find her mother. This sets things up nicely. Unfortunately and tragically, the black janitor of the school is blamed for the assault and then charged with the murders of twelve other children. This is absurd because anyone with common sense could see that, while he could have committed the assault, he couldn't have been charged with a capital crime. The movie involves the young boy putting together the pieces, including a class ring found in a heating vent. This is a nice enough story. It's weakness is that it gets too sappy at times. I really got tired of the grandpa and his excuses to smoke. They were just overly cute. Still, it's pretty captivating and works pretty well.

Picture a sleepy rural community by the sea where children play in fields, family members work together and a ghost appears to a young boy to receive aid in finding peace. These are some of the story lines of Lady in White. the picture was directed by Frank LaLoggia and he gives it a picturesque Ray Bradbury kind of tone, mood, and setting. It was as if I were transported back into some aspects of my childhood as the film centers on the point of view of a young boy named Frankie Scarlatti. The story is not grandiose by any means: you will know the identity of the killer fairly quickly just by instincts. The real power of the film for me was the presentation of the film - the creepy moments with the Lady in White, Katherine Helmond as a crazed woman obsessed with candles, and the claustrophobic atmosphere of a little school room. The rural setting is wonderfully portrayed and the resolution to the story has heart and scares. I was impressed with the acting all around from Lukas Haas as Frankie, to Alex Rocco as his father giving a great performance and certainly one not his general type, Len Cariou as a family friend, and Helmond as well. This is at its core a ghost story and one of the better ones I have seen of late. It is family-friendly yet eerily frightening. This is one of those perfect films to watch on a cold, winter evening.

Lady in White (1988) is a movie that I watched for the first time in a long time on Tubi last week. The storyline follows a young man who gets locked in his school and is almost murdered one night by someone looking for something in the school. That night he also saw a ghost which must be tied to what his would be killer was looking for. The young man starts researching who the ghost is; and indirectly, who tried to kill him.

This movie is directed by Frank LaLoggia (Fear No Evil) and stars Lukas Haas (Inception), Len Cariou (Blue Bloods), Tom Bower (Out of the Furnace), Alex Rocco (The Godfather) and Jared Rushton (Big).

This is an entertaining addition to the horror genre that aged pretty well. I really enjoyed the ghost effects in this; and while the special effects are dated, they still worked for me. I loved the depiction of the 60s, down to the Bela Lugosi Halloween costume. The depiction of the town and town's people were perfect for this era also. The woman in the window was very creepy throughout the picture. There's also a target practice scene that made me uncomfortable and set up the ending perfectly. I really enjoyed the storyline and the ending; and while being fairly straightforward and a bit predictable, everything was fun to watch unfold.

Overall, this is a bit of an underrated gem from the 80s. I would score this a 7.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

If you're expecting a typical slasher, you'll be disappointed. Frank LaLoggia's "Lady in White" is a more subtle horror flick, with limited violence and no sex or nudity. It depicts a boy who witnesses an apparition of a murder and then tries to find out what happened. The movie makes a lot of use of shadows to elicit its horror, and the answer to the mystery slowly but surely evolves. Moreover, it's also interesting to see a horror movie seen from the eyes of a child, as opposed to horny teenagers. Of course, there's no shortage of comic relief, especially from the boy's grandparents. This movie isn't any kind of masterpiece, but I still enjoyed it.

Starring Lukas Haas (the Amish boy in "Witness"), Len Cariou, Alex Rocco (Moe Greene in "The Godfather") and Katherine Helmond.

I suppose _Lady in White_ can be viewed as a horror film. It is a supernaturalistic ghost story that relies on mood and suspense to generate its scares, rather than gratuitous and explicit gore. And while some of the special effects seem dated by today's standards, that didn't really detract from my interest in the film. Creative camera work and moody score on a couple of scenes actually gave me chills. I also think that this is a film that fans of good mystery should also find to their liking. Overall, this is a good film from a relatively unknown director, Frank LaLo