Most video games don’t exactly translate well to the big screen. But there a few that do, and Exit 8 (2025), directed by Genki Kawamura, is definitely one of them. It’s a brilliantly labyrinthine, and at times maddening, cinematic experience.
Buy Exit 8An ordinary man in Japan (dubbed “The Lost Man”) steps off a subway to get to his temp job. He suddenly finds himself walking down an endless, looping corridor, trying to find Exit 8 and get the hell out of there. He reads a set of instructions that tells him in order to reach the exit he needs to turn back whenever he finds an anomaly, which is anything out of the ordinary like faces on a poster following him, blood oozing from the wall, or a mysterious man (dubbed “The Walking Man”) behind him with a creepy smile. If there is nothing strange, he is able to continue on. This is easier said than done because one single error can send him right back to the very beginning.
Yes, this film is very frustrating because our protagonist does silly things when you just want him to follow the rules and get on with it. It is also repetitive, which is deliberate, to keep you engaged with the premise. However, it is clever and creepy without the usual jump scares, gore, and other cliches. You feel the existential dread and psychological turmoil, which you wonder if The Lost Man will ever get out of the situation.
It’s also a portrait of masculinity under fire, where he clearly isn’t ready for fatherhood. In the opening, he overhears a belligerent man yelling at a mother with a crying child but can’t seem to intervene and defend her. He also deals with an ex who is pregnant. It’s about men who are not equipped to deal with the real world, which will probably go over many viewers’ heads who are interested in the overall story.
It’s obviously not a film for everyone, but for those who decide to watch it, I think you’ll find a solid, well-made nightmare that solidifies how horror can go beyond the formulas to tell real and human stories.
Special features including Q&A with Kawamura, The Making of Exit 8, and trailer. There’s also trailers for I Love Boosters and Hokum with you play the disc.
