White Lady (film)

Two best friends from the province of Iloilo, Pearl (Pauleen Luna) and Jonathan (Gian Carlos), arrive in Manila to study in an Arts Academy. Jonathan himself secretly harbors romantic feelings for Pearl, who is known for her brilliance and wisdom. Upon enrollment, a clique of students led by Mimi (Iwa Moto) and her right-hand person Eva (Katarina Perez), takes interest in them. Mimi is a pretty, rich and popular girl who gets her way through bullying others. The clique also consist of basketball jock Joshua (Jason Abalos), film and photography major Jowee (Glaiza de Castro), and delinquent band frontman Hector (Ketchup Eusebio).

Mimi takes Pearl and Jonathan into her fold, befriending them in exchange for academic favors from the smart and studious Pearl. However, Pearl rebuffs the clique after realizing their deceptions while Jonathan joins a prominent fraternity. Soon after, Pearl and Jonathan's close friendship becomes estranged.

One night, Pearl experiences strange paranormal occurrences in the campus and has visions of a woman in white, referred to as the white lady, singing a folk lullaby. She and Jonathan learn from others of the story of a white lady which has been rumored to have frequented the school grounds. A carpenter reveals to Jonathan about a storage shed that burnt down and a vision of the said woman at the same spot. Pearl meets and befriends Tasya, a kindhearted Guimaras-born elderly woman residing in a house situated on the Academy's vast campus. Tasya tells the story of her granddaughter Christina (Angelica Panganiban), a simple girl also hailing from Iloilo and Guimaras who was reportedly driven into hiding by Mimi’s pompousness. Pearl immediately feels an affinity towards Christina since both girls have been on the receiving end of Mimi’s dirty actions.

The haunting worsens when Pearl lands the highly coveted lead role in the school play, which also earns her the brunt of Mimi’s ire since the latter had wanted the role for herself. In another circumstance, a burgeoning relationship begins to kindle between Pearl and Robbie (JC de Vera), the rich, athletic and most popular guy in school, whom Mimi also desires.

Flashbacks show the story of Christina. Robbie befriends her after rescuing her from bullies and Mimi's gang. The two begin a relationship which his father opposed and forced them to separate and have Robbie choose Mimi. Soon thereafter, Mimi's friends begin to torment her frequently. Christina shuns Robbie after being having her way by his and the gang's actions. After the gang imprison her in a storage shed, Mimi drugs a janitor to silence him and Robbie, under her influence, murders Christina by setting the shed on fire.

In a series of intense ghostly appearances, the white lady manifests herself to the clique, letting them experience her wrath one by one: Each member of the clique is either killed or left incapacitated out of trauma from the encounter.

During a Halloween feast, Pearl receives news that her mother is suffering from leukemia and reveals to Robbie that she is returning to Iloilo. Robbie grows overzealous and disoriented after seeing Christina's vision in his cellphone. Pearl escapes to a gypsy tent wherein she is drawn to a vision that relives the final moments of Christina. It is from here that she learns of Robbie's crime and she shuns Robbie.

While on the run, Pearl is captured by Robbie and dragged to the storage shed. Jonathan witnesses this and intervenes only to be subdued by Robbie. In an attempt to silence them, Robbie sets the shed on fire and flees the scene on a motorcycle. The white lady, now revealed to be Christina, appears and causes his motorcycle to crash. He flees to a carillon wherein bells play the lullaby and Christina causes Robbie to fall to his death. It is then revealed that Pearl and Jonathan manage to survive and escape the shed fire unharmed due to Christina's soul diverting the flames. Later on, Christina walks to a light in a field, presumably the gate of Heaven.

Later on, Pearl returns to the province and visits Tasya wherein she reveals that her mother has died of the ailment. As Tasya reveals that she sees Christina's soul departing for the afterlife, Pearl states that they vow to take care of each other despite their losses. As they comfort each other, Christina's voice sings her lullaby as she gazes down from Heaven with God on the two in the form of wind and sunlight.

Principal photography of the film was done within the University of the Philippines Los Baños campus.

• List of ghost films

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