Saturday, November 23, 2013

The Outing (1987)

aka The Lamp

When thieves break into an old ladies house, they discover a genie lamp in the wall which contains a Djinn, and you know that won't end well.  After police arrive at the crime scene, they  confiscate the lamp and for some reason that I missed or was never explained, send the lamp to the local science museum.

Museum Curator Dr. Wallace is examining the lamp and other items from the old ladies house, when daughter Alex (who I thought was his wife at first) decides to visit.  They get into an argument and Alex intones the classic teen line that she wishes her dad was dead. Not cool, especially when there's a genie lamp with a Djinn inside on the other side of the room.

When her dad leaves the room, Alex tries on a bracelet, which in true horror fashion, refuses to come off. If only she'd known she shouldn't try on jewelry from a murder scene.

When Alex and her class go on a field trip to the science museum (her dad is dating her teacher), Alex's friends tell her it would be cool to stay over night and party in the museum. At first Alex is upset that they're asking her to do such a thing, but shortly afterwards, she surprises them all by enthusiastically agreeing. What no one realize is that Alex is possessed (damn that bracelet!) so things aren't going to end well.

Another unknown factor is that Alex's psycho ex-boyfriend Mike - who is angry she doesn't want to date him and has already manhandled her that morning at school - has overheard their plans. He and his minion decide to hide in the museum and plan a special little surprise of their own for Alex and her friends in the closed museum.

While not a classic by any means, I'd been wanting to see this movie for awhile and was happy to see it released on DVD. There are some unique methods of dispatching the teens, due to the Djinn and his powers.

Of note - psycho ex Mike is played by Red Mitchell, who was the lead in Forever Evil. Also it's the only movie I can think of where you can see a man jump on a flaming piece of toast, and a victim with an ax in their head use the ax (still in their head) to kill their attacker.


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