The Outing is a 1987 American horror film that was directed by Tom Daley, based on a script by Warren Chaney. The film was originally released in the United Kingdom as The Lamp on April 28, 1987, and was retitled The Outing for its release in the United States on September 11 of the same year with about 2 minutes of cuts, along with a different opening score. The film stars Andra St. Ivanyi and follows a group of teenagers who decide to spend the night in a museum, but end up getting stalked by an evil genie. The film was filmed in Houston, Galveston and Los Angeles.
Plot
In 1893, a young woman wears a magical bracelet and the dark shadow of an evil jinni looms over a bloody scene, foreshadowing the violence to come. In modern day, three criminals burglarize a house owned by the now elderly woman with the magical bracelet. The criminals kill her with an axe to her face and find the lamp. A genie is released from inside and possesses the old lady's corpse to kill one of the burglars by head butting him with the double-headed axe still lodged in the corpse's skull. The genie finds and murders the other two intruders. After surveying the crime scene, an officer sends the evidence, including the lamp and bracelet, for display at a natural science museum. From inside the lamp, the genie observes the museum's curator, Dr. Bressling, cataloguing the newly arrived artifacts. Dr. Wallace's teenage daughter, Alex, is also present and she tries on the magical bracelet. In a fit of adolescent angst, she says to her father, "Sometimes I wish you were dead!" She's unable to take off the bracelet. Alex's class goes on a field trip to the museum where her dad works. The genie possesses Alex's body and convinces her friends to go on an "outing" later to spend the night at the museum. The genie levitates Dr. Bressling's body and decapitates him with a ceiling fan. The genie embodies more people and museum artifacts to commit acts of violence. Many bloody murders ensue. In the form of a resurrected snakeskin, he murders an opera-singing security guard. Alex's friend, Babs, takes a bath at the museum and is killed by the demonized snakes during her bath. The genie's true form is finally revealed as he chases Alex and her friends down the halls of the museum. Help arrives and together, they try to “destroy the lamp to destroy the jinn by throwing the lamp into the fire inside the incinerator. At the end of the credits, the opera-singing security guard returns to take a bow.
Cast
Release
The film was initially released in theaters in the United Kingdom in 1987 under the title The Lamp and was retitled The Outing for its United States theatrical release a few months later.
Home media
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?. On July 14, 2015, Scream Factory released a Blu-ray double feature with The Godsend.
Reception
The Outing received mostly unfavorable reviews. 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." The Boston Globe called it "a hokey loser". The Los Angeles Times criticized the depiction of evil in the film, saying that it existed merely to terrorize children without motive. HorrorNews.net panned the film, writing "There was real promise here, but whatever happened between the writing and filming of the opening scene and the rest of the movie is a real mystery. This had a great start and real promise only to have that explode in a font of horrible dialogue, unbelievable characters, and bad effects." Mark L. Miller of Ain't It Cool News wrote that the film's kills are unimaginative and poorly done. Anthony Arrigo of Dread Central rated it 2/5 stars and called the kills fun but said the film overall is too dull. 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". 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."
