The Outing (originally titled The Lamp) is a 1987 American supernatural slasher film[5] directed by Tom Daley, and starring Deborah Winters, James Huston, Andra St. Ivanyi, Scott Bankston, and Red Mitchell.

It follows a group of teenagers spending the night in a natural history museum who are stalked by the spirit of a malevolent djinn released from an ancient lamp.

After surveying the crime scene, an officer sends the evidence, including the lamp and bracelet, for display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

After, Alex convinces her boyfriend Ted and her friends — couples Babs and Ross, and Gwen and Terry — to go on an "outing" to secretly spend the night at the museum.

The group enter the museum, where Alex leads them to the basement where they plan to stay the night and elude the building's security guards.

The jinn tears Ross in two, before reviving and unleashing jars of venomous snakes that bite Babs to death while she bathes.

Dr. Wallace and Eve find Alex fleeing through the museum, chased by the jinn, which has revealed its true monstrous form.

[citation needed] Scream Factory released The Outing on DVD in the US on August 8, 2013, packaged in an All Night Horror Marathon Collection with the films The Vagrant, The Godsend, and What's The Matter With Helen?.

Extra features include a feature-length audio commentary with the film's cast and crew, the original theatrical trailer, and an extended making-of retrospective documentary.

Richard Harrington of The Washington Post said it was "stupid and senseless, and the special effects look as if they were shot on a family's weekly shopping budget.

[13] Writing in Fangoria, Brian Collins rated it 2/4 stars and said that although the film is overlong and boring in parts, it has "some bizarre charm".

[14] In contrast, the Dallas Observer gave the film a more positive review as they felt that "Director Tom Daley's The Lamp is an entertaining slice of '80s cheese that actually delivers once it gets rolling.