THE OUTING

US, 1986, 87 minutes, Colour.
Deborah Winston, James Huston.
Directed by Tom Daley.

The Outing is one of the many (too many) horror thrillers involving youth, made during the 1980s. The trend began with Halloween and Friday the 13th. The emphasis on blood and gore - and special effects - increased during the 80s. So too did the emphasis on sex. However, while this film begins with brutality and sexiness, the main thrust of the file is the focus on horror.

Three horrible teenagers murder an old woman brutally for her wealth. They find a lamp which has an evil genie. They themselves are brutally killed. The police take the lamp and it is investigated by scientists especially the scientist and his daughter who are the focus of the film.

There is little concentration on characterisation, rather there are the usual stereotypes of the academics and the students, and the ups and downs of their relationships. However, the emphasis is on the evil released from the lamp and its destructiveness - and wholesale massacre in this file until the final confrontation and the destruction of the evil.

These films were made on fairly small budgets, do remarkably well, given the small budgets and lack of imagination. This is one of many - reasonable enough in its way after its gross beginning but entirely derivative.