The Outing (1987)
Directed by Tom Daley
With horror movies, sometimes the posters are horrible, then sometimes they’re amazing. The Outing is one of the amazing ones. There’s something about that old school oil painting look that I’m a total sucker for. I’m not sure if it is my art background, or my love for nostalgia, but I always appreciate a great painted poster. I found this movie through IMDB, and it was that said poster that caught my attention so I saved it, and looked a while for the movie. I happened to find it on youtube so I gave it a look, lets do it.
The Outing is that rare horror subgenre of evil genie. Its evil genie meets slasher movie, a long the lines of Wishmaster but not played for laughs. An ancient lamp is in an old lady’s house when thieves attempt to take it, the genie is released and the thieves are murdered. Soon the lamp is moved to a museum to be studied. The museum curator’s daughter becomes possessed by the evil genie, and starts murdering her friends.
The premise is rather simple, but its campy fun for sure. I’m not sure how many times I’m going to watch this movie but I appreciated it for being somewhat original and fun. The special effects are run of the mill honestly, nothing to really call out. The lamp is rather sinister looking and impressive. I really wanted to love this movie more than I did, especially since the movie poster was so great and well done. Thankfully I saw it on youtube and didn’t buy it on dvd or bluray or something. The acting is decent, not bad, not great and honestly that reflects on the movie as a whole. It is mediocre, but after you’ve watched as much shit as I have, you tend to appreciate mediocre.
If you’re a slasher completest, or you like evil genie movies then go to youtube and watch The Outing. If you’re hoping the movie will be as great as the poster, then you’ll be greatly disappointed. Again, not sure how many times I’ll watch this but it was entertaining and I was able to check it off my list. I give The Outing a C.
