The Outing was filmed under it’s original title, The Lamp, and while other countries got the movie under that title along with poster art that clearly indicated it was a horror movie about a genie, we in the States got a poster and a title that deceptively makes one think you’re looking at a slasher flick about kids lost in the woods, or something. That flick is about a giant snake running amok in a city, but you’d never know that from the poster. at the time of the movie’s release reminds me of the marketing for Spasms (1983). If you want more details on that one you can find my review of it here.

For the record I also like Jinn (2014), but in all actuality that’s not a horror movie. But there’s only one “killer genie” movie that really worked for me and that’s The Outing. Others I’ve come across in recent years: Tobe Hooper’s Djinn (2013), Djinns (2010, aka Stranded) and Jinn (2014). There have been a fair amount of “killer genie” flicks, with the Wishmaster series being the most well known.

My first introduction to this benevolent creature was the series I Dream Of Jeannie (1965-1970) and my second was the equally benign one from the Ray Harryhausen movie, The 7 th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958). When you say “genie” to the average person they naturally think of a being that lives in a lamp, you rub the lamp, and then out pops the genie to grant you three wishes.

Dead space 1991 bluray