THE
OUTING (1986)
Directed by Tom Daley
International Video Entertainment
VHS
Reviewed 01.07.05
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
For an hour or so, I thought I would
sleep easy tonight. It seemed that
somebody in ‘86 really knew
what they were doing. The feathered-hair
fun showed no signs of flattening.
Then deflation hit. I slowly reached
for my spare can of mousse.
There’s a really simple way
to explain The Outing.
It’s a seemingly primo slice
of weird 80s teen-horror schmaltz
(you know, fun) that unfortunately
falters when things get a bit too
nasty. It’s a bummer too.
I mean, have you ever daydreamed
about a genie-in-a-bottle slasher
film? Me neither, but what a concept,
eh?
Since I honestly can’t recall
any of the characters’ names,
I’ll have to wing it for this
one. Two rednecks and their trashy
girlfriend break into an old voodoo
woman’s mansion, on the prowl
for some gold. Instead of the rich
stuff, they find an old genie bottle
encased in the wall (this is after
they give the old lady an axe to
the head, mind you). One skinny
dip and a few rubs later, the bottle
is smoking and everybody gets it.
The origin has been told.
From there, the bottle ends up in
the hands of a museum curator. He’s
got a gigantic-haired daughter,
who in turn has a boyfriend that
drives a tiny white convertible,
complete with shades-on-a-string.
Here’s where it kicks in:
excessive fashions, incredibly violent
(and hilarious) school bully hijinks,
and a field trip to Dad’s
museum. Since our lead girl is obsessed
with the genie lamp, she can’t
help but mess around with it when
the other kids aren’t looking.
Bad idea, sister! The kids decide
to be sneaky and spend the night
in the museum. Do they plan on some
company in the form of the lecherous
bullies and a “Ghoulies”
rejected killer genie? Not a gory
chance.
Up to the hour mark, The Outing
was exactly what you’d expect:
dumb fun with lots of unintentional
laughs. The production values were
actually pretty decent and the film
was right on track. Things started
to drag a bit while the kids were
anticipating a sneak into the museum,
but I figured that was just the
calm before the storm. I was right,
but not in the way I expected. When
the “knock-offs” finally
got underway, the tone shifted from
PG-13 goofs to mean-spirited unpleasantness.
Was it necessary to throw in a disturbing
racist rape scene, completely out
of the blue? Definitely not. Did
we really need lingering shots of
a nude girl post-snake attack, falling
out of a grimy bathtub? Another
“no.”
The genie finally appeared during
the last ten minutes, in a sea of
M80s, sparklers, and smoke bombs.
By that time, the terrible Darth
Vader-voiced puppet made me chuckle,
not too mention the climactic dialogue
bit of “Die, mother fucker,
die!!.” But sadly, my good
times had been stolen. Not even
another dose of awful new wave non-hits
could change my mind.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Whoa! This tape looks rather bad.
If I wanted to watch a film through
a piece of wax paper, you’d
think I was crazy. Not so with International
Video Entertainment. Ah, but they
got it right with the stereo mix.
EXTRAS
International Video Entertainment
wants to let you know: “We’ve
got the movies America wants to
see”! Just to prove it, they’ve
bunched up a dozen thirty second
trailers all in a row. USA, rejoice!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Things were fun for awhile, but
The Outing blew it. If
I had a neon sign that blinked “RENTAL
ONLY,” I’d hang it with
pride. |
You wish it was you
Don't crack up
Scratching the itch
Reach for the blue screen
|
