Movie Review - The Lamp

The Lamp

1987

H I T Films / Skouras Pictures / TMS Pictures

Avid Home Entertainment / Braveworld / Midnite Movies / Scream Factory

7.5 / 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 homes 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 into the story more, however, here the director doesn't do such a great job and at these moments the film feels dislocated and disjointed.  Especially with the fan scene and the torn in half shot of a student, this is mainly due to not knowing how the halving 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.