La morada del diablo

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.

I recently saw this movie for the first time and if you like really cheesy B movies, this is definitely one for you! It's got it all...bad acting, horrible effects, random naked people. I found it particularly enjoyable because it's set in Houston, TX (where I live!) So I got to look back and remember what this city looked like 15 years ago! All in all, this movie is a good way to spend a couple hours.

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. (**)

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.