User reviews

A whole decade before Wes Craven produced his evil genie movie Wishmaster, director Tom Daley gave horror fans The Lamp (AKA The Outing), a reasonably fun 80s B-movie that also features an ancient, supernatural creature as its antagonist.

But whereas Wes Craven's malevolent being must cleverly twist his master's wishes in order to bring about pain and suffering, the nasty creature in director Tom Daley's The Lamp doesn't have to resort to such ingenuity: as the master, not the slave, he is free to cause whatever chaos he likes.

This means lots of trouble for Alex (Andra St. Ivanyi), the daughter of museum curator Dr. Wallace (James Huston), who becomes the genie's unwilling servant after trying on a magical armband she finds in her father's office. Unable to remove the trinket, Alex is tricked into convincing her friends to spend a night in the museum, where the genie sets about killing the teens in a variety of inventive ways.

As the genie goes about his wicked business, viewers get to witness decapitation via ceiling fan, an impalement on a spear, a mouldy corpse rising from the dead to munch on a bloke's fingers and jugular, a snake attack in a bath, a surprisingly nasty moment where two guys graphically rape a girl before getting a well deserved comeuppance, plus a little gratuitous nudity, and a very dumb finalé that could only have come from the 80s, a time when cheesiness knew no bounds.

With its iffy optical effects, rather shonky gore, silly monster, ropey acting, and wafer thin plot, The Lamp might not be anywhere near as polished as Craven's film, but should prove to be no less enjoyable, particularly for those already conditioned to similar low-budget hokum from the same era.

An enjoyably cheesy B-movie that has bad acting all around (everyone seems to agree on that), but also some imaginatively gruesome scenes that make it worthwhile for undemanding genre fans. Inarguable highlight is the scene involving a naked girl (of course!), a bathtub and several snakes.....ugh! See if you can understand the point of the brief shot after the closing credits. (**)

The Outing is a textbook example of how great artwork can entice you to pick up a movie from your local mom and pop video store's shelf. Now, the status of the movie inside said case could be questionable, but how can you pass up that art? Luckily The Outing is not that bad. Granted, the acting could use some touching up and the formula is an old one, but the gore effects stand out and the sheer eighties-ness of the piece shines through. The Outing (aka The Lamp) is about a group of high school students who decide to spend the night at the local museum. Unbeknownst to them the newest piece at the museum is a genie lamp harboring an evil Djinn. Keep in mind that this was many years before Wishmaster was made. When the horny teens decide to split up and explore the place (and each other) the Djinn is set loose to work his evil magic. That's the formulaic part. But there are some interesting moments along the way. Highlights include: A man getting ripped in half under water, a scientist being thrown into a ceiling fan, and a nubile teen taking a bath with snakes. It's just campy enough to keep me watching and gory enough for me not to give it a bad review.

As a child of the 80's I am a huge fan of horror movies from the period. I only saw The Outing maybe once or twice when I was a kid after it was released on video and for years afterwards I had honestly forgotten about it. But recently, via YouTube, I was afforded the great opportunity to get reacquainted with this horror gem and I gotta admit it is just as fun to watch now as it was in 1988. This is one movie not to be taken too seriously. True it follows in the grand tradition of cheesy 80's horror flicks, with its predictable story, cookie-cutter characters, hilarious acting, campy dialog and sophomoric special effects, but hey that's what makes it soooo much fun to watch! You don't even have to pay close attention. Just enjoy it for what it is. Movies like this are a great way to relax, especially on a lazy Saturday. So if you are a fan of and know 80's horror, then I highly recommend finding a copy of The Outing cause it'll be just what you expect it to be...........

Something about a bunch of brainless teenagers caught in a museum after closing. One of them is possessed and is purposefully leading her friends to their deaths.

No great shakes to be sure but, for 1986, this was pretty impressive. I saw it in a movie theatre and found the special effects just incredible. Yeah, they look cheesy today but back then were state of the art. Also I found some of the acting good with some nice blood and gore.

So, while I agree it's not a good movie I have a real soft spot for it. And, come on! It's not THAT bad! I give it a 7.

"The Lamp" is incredibly stupid 80's smut that can be found in practically every video store in my country whereas other, much better horror gems from that same decade are nearly impossible to purchase anywhere! Such a thing annoys the hell out of me! All in all, there's ONE remotely good sequence in this film (defenseless girl killed in bathtub by snakes), but the remaining 84 minutes are a textbook example of what horror shouldn't be like. Dumb characters run around, doing & saying the most ridiculous things while threatened by an "evil" Djinn that appears to be made out of plasticine. Juvenile delinquents steal the titular lamp from an old lady's house and get killed. The ancient relic then becomes property of a national museum in Texas for further examination and exhibition. Some kids, among them the curator's daughter, develop the bright idea of spending their Friday night in the museum's basement (what can possibly be exciting about that?) and, naturally, they get killed by the djinn in various ways. End of story. The acting is horrible, possibly even among the WORST I've ever seen, and first-time director Tom Daley seems to leave out tension & atmosphere on purpose. The make up is even too cheesy to look charming and the romantic sub plots are intolerably tedious. One of the museum night guards sings opera songs during his shift until he gets speared. He's actually the most talented person involved in the whole production.

"The Outing" is supremely cheap 'n' cheesy, crude 'n' clumsy, no budget horror entertainment. Granted, it's slow to get started and the good stuff is mostly saved for the second half. But once the mayhem begins, it proves to be quite amusing. The actors aren't the most professional one will ever see, but who would choose to watch something like this and expect any different? The important thing is that the movie *does* entertain the viewer, if on a somewhat modest level.

A trio of rednecks attempt to rob an old woman. They try to make off with her genie lamp, but they all get slaughtered. Eventually the lamp makes its way into a museum. The curators' daughter Alex (Andra St. Ivanyi) is possessed, or something, and entices her friends into spending some time after hours in the museums' basement. Soon the djinn, or genie, within the lamp is free to continue the body count.

The action in the second half can boast showmanship. The swooping camera-work isn't bad at all and the special effects and gore are substantially enjoyable, no matter how tacky they may be. Among the highlights are a boy chopped in half, a girl attacked in a bathtub by snakes, an opera singing security guard impaled by a spear, and a scientist shoved through a ceiling fan.

The movie also stars the bland James Huston as curator Dr. Wallace, Deborah Winters (from such pictures as "The People Next Door" and "Blue Sunshine") as his love interest,Eve Farrell (Winters also plays the young and old Arab women), and Danny D. Daniels ("Retribution") as Wallaces' colleague Dr. Bressling. Tom Daley handles the directing duties.

All in all, this is diverting enough to appeal to die hard genre devotees.

Six out of 10.

Robbers break into an elderly lady's house, and uncover an exotic artifact in the shape of lamp. They murder her, and then they unknowingly unleash a Djinn from the lamp and they would follow her fate. Soon the lamp finds itself at a museum, where a bunch of students secretly decide to spend the night and would become the next targets of the rampaging djinn.

The Lamp (aka The Outing) has an unusually sound (if simple) concept, largely brought down by its mediocre execution and formulaic inclusions. It starts off decent to only have its interest slowly fade due to its low scale plot developments and lumpy mid-section (focusing on a bunch of rather boring kids), but then the final third erratically erupts (rather gruesomely and incoherently) with a baffling freeze frame closing. However, gladly the numerous (some silly, but a couple remained effective) death scenes provided some inventiveness with a certain splash of nastiness and blood. While the special effects (glowing green mist) and make-up FX can be on the hokey side (a stiff, but towering Djinn), they still had a lively charm to them that reeks of its decade. Director Tom Daley's creaky direction doesn't use the compact locations (and a museum would be such a great setting for this carnage) all that well with little in the way of suspense, due to the uneven pacing that didn't help much in the build-up and atmosphere is barely evident with only a few lasting pockets. At least the quick, swirling camera work adds in some much needed verve and a sense of urgency, despite the routine POV framing. The performances are woeful, but not enough to destroy the viewing. Andra St. Ivanyi leads the way, with James Huston and Deborah Winters in lesser support.

I didn't dislike it, but nonetheless it's completely average and cheap hokum that won't last too long in one's memory.

Not bad, seen it a couple of times. If you like splatter flicks with mediocre acting, watch this one. Those poor teens get to die in some pretty nasty ways.

There's no denying that The Lamp has its fair share of clichés and silliness but if you're a fan of the genre you can't help but love it. The story behind it is actually quite original and interesting, there's not many films out there about killer genies is there? And of course there's the typical "3 wishes" trap with the moral of be careful what you wish for (the girl at one point wishes her father was dead). The genie effects used at the end are ultra cheesy, but cool at the same time. I love the camera angles from the perspective of the genie as it floats along corridors. The best camera view is one that is apparently from 'inside' the lamp. Obviously they would have done this with a piece of red plastic over the screen, but it's still a cool trick. The deaths are decent, but weren't very gory (at least in the VHS version I watched).

If you're a fan of slasher films, I would add this to your collection. It's unique in its own way and probably one of the only slasher films with a killer genie in it!

I was worried that this film might be just an eighties version of the crappy nineties horror 'Wishmaster', but as it happens; it would have been a better film if it were. The problem with this film, ironically considering it's a trashy eighties horror film, is simply that it's boring. It starts out slow, and even when the rudimentary bunch of dumb teens start to get picked off, the film never really picks up. It's a shame really as the idea of an evil genie wreaking havoc is actually quite a good one, but this film just doesn't do it justice. The plot focuses on a magic lamp which is stolen from an old woman's house. The lamp ends up in a museum when the thieves are killed. When the museum curator's daughter is possessed, she invites a bunch of friends for fun and games in the museum basement, and everyone ends up coming a cropper. I can live with bad acting and nauseating dialogue, even crappy special effects...but the story needs to be good to compensate, and this film is far too simple. The genie itself looks about as scary as your average lump of plasticine, and while the film features a few moments of gory horror; overall, it's not good enough. The Lamp certainly doesn't come recommended.

If scary movies are supposed to have morals than the lesson taught by this movie is "Be careful what you wish for". Okay, forget the fact that all the "teens" in this movie look too old even for grad school and concentrate on the plot. A girl (Andra St. Ivanyi) has an argument with her father and wishes he were dead. So what? Well dad is a museum curator and he just happened to come into possession of a real magic lamp ("from Iraq") and whoever, or whatever, is inside heard her wish. This isn't one of those nice "Your wish is my command, O Master" sort of djinn's; he has a mean streak a mile wide. When the same girl and her friends decide to spend the night in the museum for a little carnal fun he pops up and starts killing everyone in various exotic ways. Watch for a boy snapped in half at the waist and dead snakes brought back to life to deliver poisonous bites. They had to save the budget for the big FX at the end so we just get to see the aftermath of the really gory stuff. The snake bites and impalements are all shown though. So is this a good movie? Yeah, I thought so. The ending left me wondering though . . .I mean it is kind of inconclusive. What DID that shot of the Pepsi truck mean? Well, maybe I will just have to see it again.

A group of teens decide to sneak into the museum run by Alex's (Andra St. Ivanyi) dad. What they don't know is that she is possessed by the spirit of an evil Djinn that arrived in magic lamp at the museum. That is about it for the plot of this Houston, TX lensed horror flick. The first ten minutes are pretty good and the final half hour is great. Unfortunately, the 50 minutes in between is pretty dull. The kids all looks like they are 25 or older, but director Tom Daley gives plenty of attention to the nudity and gore departments. The final manifestation of the Djinn is pretty impressive, as is the final hilarious product placement for Pepsi.

Another overlooked horror from a period when horror was a not done. it's a strange flick because it was the director Tom Daley his first and last attempt to make a flick. On the other hand it doesn't contain big names it's even so that most of the actors only appeared in The Lamp. Only James Huston went further but not to mention as an actor and Red Mitchell who we can see in JFK (1991) sadly he died at the age of 33 in 1994 in a train/car collision.

Was it bad, not really, it do has some good parts like a bath scene with snakes or a body been torn in two pieces in a swimming pool. The idea is okay with the Jinn and the mummy coming alive but it's the effect used that makes it out dated. It has the so typical cheap eighties effects that it sometimes is a bit ridiculous. But it also has a bit of nudity even some gratuitous by the first girl being killed running around with bouncing boobs. But I have also to say that I sometimes was a bit bored, the Jinn wasn't scary at all. It looked fine but when you work a Jinn and a magic lamp it becomes a bit Disney.

Still, it has a proper release but is sold a bit pricey, still it's available on VHS. And don't be confused by it's second title The Outing which was also another flick from 1981 known as Scream. And not the Scream from Wes Craven. So watch out to hunt this that you have the correct flick.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

This movie sucks its not fun to watch. There are some funny parts but they are unintentional. Like when I saw the trailer for this movie as a kid back in the day, this movie seemed super scary and I was wary. Saw it as an adult and yeah it sucked. I guess they made movies in Texas back in the 80's like it was a real thing and I feel like this movie was filmed in the lone star state. Its has that 80's Texas feel. Also, as a kid I might have gone to the museum that is the location where this movie was filmed. If that is the case there is an awesome T-rex skull like right as you walk in. Its huge too, like a live T-rex would be killing motherf*ckers, so if you ever go to Huston check it out. Oh yeah acting was bad directing was bad lighting was sh*tty story was sh*tty you know the drill.

Teenagers spending the night in a museum are attacked by an evil genie intent on world destruction. A very creative idea ( remember this came out way before Wishmaster ), is given the standard 80's teen horror film treatment. But still isn't all the bad. The first half is so-so, but once there in the museum, it is nothing but good times from then on out. 7 out of 10.

This movie had me reminiscing about my youth and before we get onto the review I will admit I've added a point for the warm feeling the film left in my soul. This is the type of movie we would walk miles for on a Friday night back in video's heydey. I even know which of my friend's house I originally watched this movie at because his mum loved horror films. God bless you Mrs A.

This is not a great horror film and came at a time when the industry was asked to cut down on the graphic violence so most of the nasty stuff is done off-camera and your imagination has to do some "fill-in-the-blanks" work. This isn't usually a bad thing as it can have the ability to bring the audience more into the story, however, here the director doesn't do such a great job and at these time the film feels dislocated and disjointed. Especially with the fan scene and the torn in half shot of a student, this mainly due to not knowing how this exactly happened. One shot and he's whole, the next and he's been halved... by what and how?

I am unsure if this is how the director, Tom Daley, filmed it or if the special effects ended up on the cutting-room floor, as the cuts are so sharp it feels as though there was more to the scenes. Quite a few films of this period have this kind of feel and is one of the reasons Friday 13th VI wasn't as visceral as it's predecessors.

These cuts harm the film in a way which could have been fatal, had the story and the direction not been enough to keep it alive... though not kicking so hard. That said there are quite a few interesting kills... the skeleton scene is pretty well done and the axe to the head is inventive.

The opening scenes on a steamboat and then at the estate of an heiress as she is murdered and robbed are nicely done and give the backstory of the how The Lamp finds it's way to the museum. Most horror films just get on with it and fill the audience in vocally, should there be a history to be told.

The acting isn't too bad. Most of the time it's wooden and the stereotypical baddies are portrayed in the usual style of the time - over-the-top, we're bad... but we're only having fun... No Oscars were ever going to find themselves into any of the actor's homes on the basis of this film. Though I have seen much worse.

On the whole, the special effects are good, though I do feel the better scenes may have been cut. The worst effect it the computer program used to decipher the legend on The Lamp. Why it had to be prettied up I have no idea, but in today's gadget and app tech-age, this looks dated and laughable... I think it was laughable even then.

If you like 80's horror films then this could be for you, but if you like the Jinn mythos then do yourself a favour and watch the wonderful and brilliant Wishmaster. If this film had that type of Jinn and half the humour then it would have been a much better movie.

The film starts with three robbers breaking into a wealthy widow's home, looking for her fortune. Instead of the money, they find an ancient lamp hidden behind a wall. Overjoyed with their find, they however soon meet their doom.

Some of the widow's belongings are taken to a museum where museum archeologist Dr. Wallace try to determine the age of some of the artifacts; the lamp in particular. His daughter is Alex, who finds a bracelet among the widow's stuff. Having put it on, she is unable to remove it again, and unbeknownst to her, the bracelet is somehow connected to the lamp.

Dr Wallace arranged for Alex's class to go on a field trip to the museum - partly also because Dr Wallace is seeing Alex's teacher, Eve Ferrell. Alex is in a relationship with Ted. Her ex-boyfriend, Harley, is a trouble maker and continuously harasses Alex and Ted.

Alex and some of her friends decide to stay the night at the museum, and this is when all hell is about to break loose. I'm not doing spoilers, but this is an 80's horror, so you can pretty much guess what is about to happen. This premise felt similar to 1982's 'One Dark Night', where a group of friends decided to stay the night at a mausoleum.

The final act is a typical B-movie with bad visuals. The creature didn't look realistic at all, and even its movability was limited, making it look like a rubber prop. This film wasn't scary or creepy, and I did find the first two acts better than the last. There were always promise of something interesting happening with regards to the lamp, but when it finally did (during the final act), it was a bit disappointing. 'One Dark Night' also wasn't a great movie, but it certainly was more fun than 'The Outing'.

On a positive note, I did enjoy the characters. I enjoyed the romance between Dr Wallace and Eve, and I rather enjoyed Alex and Ted as a couple. I also really liked the way Eve handled Harley.

Oh, and I don't think I'm going to remember the film by it's title 'The Outing'. I will remember it better as 'The Lamp', since the ancient lamp was the film's focus point.