Thursday, November 2, 2017

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: THE OUTING (1987) ** ½


Thieves steal a lamp from an old lady and wind up unleashing a killer genie.  The next day, a bunch of kids go to a museum on a field trip.  They get the bright idea to leave the group behind and spend the night in the museum.  Naturally, the genie shows up and starts picking them off one by one. 

Most of the movie is clunky and sometimes dull, but it's nearly saved by a handful of gory set pieces and zany kills.  The scene where a woman takes an axe to the brain and awakens moments later to kill her attacker with a well-placed headbutt is awesome.  We also get people cut in half, death by impalement, head crushing, and a funny scene in which a snake goes up a guy’s pants. 

These odd moments, not to mention the cool monster help to almost, but not quite make up for the film’s various shortcomings.  The teens are mostly annoying and the pacing is erratic.  The ending is also weird and frustrating.  Up until The Outing, I’ve never seen a movie end with a scene in which a Pepsi truck acts as both a jump scare and product placement.  I guess that counts for something.   

Overall, The Outing is far too uneven to ever really work.  As far as killer genie movies go, it’s still much better than any films in the Wishmaster series.  It’s definitely no Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama though. 

AKA:  The Lamp.

1 comment:

  1. You don't like any of the Wishmaster films? I think they're pretty good.

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