La lampe

"The Outing" is supremely cheap 'n' cheesy, crude 'n' clumsy, no budget horror entertainment. Granted, it's slow to get started and the good stuff is mostly saved for the second half. But once the mayhem begins, it proves to be quite amusing. The actors aren't the most professional one will ever see, but who would choose to watch something like this and expect any different? The important thing is that the movie *does* entertain the viewer, if on a somewhat modest level.

A trio of rednecks attempt to rob an old woman. They try to make off with her genie lamp, but they all get slaughtered. Eventually the lamp makes its way into a museum. The curators' daughter Alex (Andra St. Ivanyi) is possessed, or something, and entices her friends into spending some time after hours in the museums' basement. Soon the djinn, or genie, within the lamp is free to continue the body count.

The action in the second half can boast showmanship. The swooping camera-work isn't bad at all and the special effects and gore are substantially enjoyable, no matter how tacky they may be. Among the highlights are a boy chopped in half, a girl attacked in a bathtub by snakes, an opera singing security guard impaled by a spear, and a scientist shoved through a ceiling fan.

The movie also stars the bland James Huston as curator Dr. Wallace, Deborah Winters (from such pictures as "The People Next Door" and "Blue Sunshine") as his love interest,Eve Farrell (Winters also plays the young and old Arab women), and Danny D. Daniels ("Retribution") as Wallaces' colleague Dr. Bressling. Tom Daley handles the directing duties.

All in all, this is diverting enough to appeal to die hard genre devotees.

Six out of 10.

If scary movies are supposed to have morals than the lesson taught by this movie is "Be careful what you wish for". Okay, forget the fact that all the "teens" in this movie look too old even for grad school and concentrate on the plot. A girl (Andra St. Ivanyi) has an argument with her father and wishes he were dead. So what? Well dad is a museum curator and he just happened to come into possession of a real magic lamp ("from Iraq") and whoever, or whatever, is inside heard her wish. This isn't one of those nice "Your wish is my command, O Master" sort of djinn's; he has a mean streak a mile wide. When the same girl and her friends decide to spend the night in the museum for a little carnal fun he pops up and starts killing everyone in various exotic ways. Watch for a boy snapped in half at the waist and dead snakes brought back to life to deliver poisonous bites. They had to save the budget for the big FX at the end so we just get to see the aftermath of the really gory stuff. The snake bites and impalements are all shown though. So is this a good movie? Yeah, I thought so. The ending left me wondering though . . .I mean it is kind of inconclusive. What DID that shot of the Pepsi truck mean? Well, maybe I will just have to see it again.

This movie was filmed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. There are a few glimpses of the sign in the front of the building and current Museum patrons will notice that the Planetarium is mysteriously disconnected (pre- grand hall) and the "side door" where the kids get back into the building after the building is locked down now leads to a ramp and into the parking garage. I am the Museum's Overnight coordinator now and have spent the night in this same museum many times - unfortunately there is no jin to be found... or is there?

Obviously we've updated the Museum a bit since this was filmed but if you grew up in Houston going to the Museum on field trips take a closer look at this movie for a good laugh. Don't worry - the laughs definitely continue as you examine the plot, dialog, special effects and fashion!

This movie is beloved by HMNS staff and we were especially excited to find out about the secret bathtub/snake room!

I recently saw this movie for the first time and if you like really cheesy B movies, this is definitely one for you! It's got it all...bad acting, horrible effects, random naked people. I found it particularly enjoyable because it's set in Houston, TX (where I live!) So I got to look back and remember what this city looked like 15 years ago! All in all, this movie is a good way to spend a couple hours.

A gang burgle an old womans house and kill her after the only valuables they find is a an old lamp, one of the gang rubs the lamp and a genie pops out and sleighs them all.. unlucky for the gang this is a arab type genie called a jinn and it doesn't give ya 3 wishes .

Later the lamp is taken to a museum.

A bunch a kids decide to spend a night in this museum and the genie/ jinn monster carries on the killings.

Decent film with a few good deaths ,a zombie and monster genie and a fair amount of T n' A . The acting is good and the score is good .

Classic 80s routine For some reason this film is also called :the outing .