‘Exit 8’ review: Worst place-difference you’ve ever had

If you’ve ever felt like a lab rat in a hellish maze trying to get out of an underground station, you need to watch it Exit at 8.

Based on (and almost identical to) Kotake Create’s acclaimed 2023 game, director Genki Kawamura’s adaptation is an incredibly meticulous piece of cinema. Game fans will be amazed to see those signature hallways come to life; newcomers will have the chance to experience a crazy escape room for the first time.

At once a masterpiece of game-to-film adaptation, a beautiful, nail-biting horror-thriller, and a marvel of technical cinema, Exit at 8 lock you up and leave you alone. You’ll never see your commute the same way.

What Exit at 8 about?

To play Kotake Dala game Exit 8 a walking simulator is an understatement. This masterpiece of environmental storytelling is an amazing spot-the-difference experience that ties players in knots without leaving them in awe. Like a Möbius strip, Exit at 8 sending you on a seemingly endless loop, walking the same but unpleasant route under Tokyo over and over again, with the only chance to escape a set of mysterious commands: If you find something confusing, turn around immediately. If you don’t find it confusing, don’t turn away.

Kawamura and his partner Kentaro Hirase expanded the puzzle into three acts, added a compelling protagonist, explored other characters (including Yamato Kōchi’s standout performance as The Walking Man), and added an active theme of fatherhood. We meet an unnamed man (the exceptional Kazunari Ninomiya) on his way to his temporary job on the Tokyo subway. He is crammed into a train carriage with thousands of other silent passengers, all glued to their phones in an all-too-familiar photo. When there is an annoying conflict, he simply turns up the volume and takes it out, the result is fully watched. He takes a ringing call from his ex (Nana Komatsu). When he tries to get out of the station, he finds himself trapped in a mysterious corridor, tasked with dealing with (and identifying) strange things – a door ajar, the sound of nearby footsteps, a disturbingly exaggerated smile.

Although the concept seems simple, the themes running through this labyrinth are complex, from the nine to five toil to the weight of life’s big decisions to the concept of limbo. Where is this place? An Escher experiment? A modern version of Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell? Kawamura will leave you scrambling for meaning as you search for the mysterious on screen.

Exit at 8 it is a masterpiece of filmmaking, from production design to cinematography

It’s complete.
Credit: Neon

The first time our “Lost Man” comes around the corner Exit at 8A very important hallway, my jaw dropped. Production designer Ryo Sugimoto, set designer Yutaka Motegi, lighting designer Tatsuya Hirayama, and set decorator Yutaka Motegi have mastered the classic Kotake Create subway setup down to the last detail, from the graphic design to the serious lighting and those brutal white tiles. It’s a beautiful piece of work, creating this seemingly endless corridor for uninterrupted shots, captured with meticulous precision by cinematographer Keisuke Imamura.

Long long shots track Ninomiya’s outstanding physical performance as he tries to escape the corridor and survive the disturbing dangers, many from visual effects director Seiji Masamoto. The game itself uses a first-person perspective with every step, turn, or movement in space acting as player-driven cinematography, and Imamura skillfully conveys this in Exit 8, making an addictive, restless march through these terrifying routes.

However, none of this would be a big hit on the outside Exit at 8Supervising sound editor and foley artist Masaya Kitada. Sound becomes a true weapon in Kitada’s hands, creating fear from the sound of footsteps and the roar of fluorescence, or directly scaring you from inside the locker. Be sure to see this film with a monster sound system.

Exit at 8 you will play spot-the-difference again

An important game mechanic of Exit 8a paradoxical sight, and serves as the film’s narrative driver, as the main character studies the corridor’s several constants to spot anything amiss. Some of the confusion is obvious, while others are less so. According to the latter, deciding that an anomaly actually is becomes as risky a step as deciding that it is not. It’s amazing, this constant state of flux between ennui, frustration, boredom, and pure fear.

With Imamura’s calculated cinematography, the audience is able to play along in some cases where we move around the screen to point out something confusing before The Lost Man does – there were more than a few times when I pointed, in pantomime fashion, at the screen wanting to shout “BACK YOU!” Admittedly, fans of the game won’t be alarmed by the surprising nature of the puzzles, as experiencing them in play for the first time is as disappointing as watching a movie.

While video game adaptations come in low to moderate levels, Exit at 8 it is the triumphant realization and expansion of the original concept. Kawamura’s well-timed direction and his incredibly talented cast and crew enhance this contained passage in ways that are both satisfying and refreshing. You’ll be in this hallway long after you leave the cinema — we’re all still staring blankly at that exit 0 sign.

Exit at 8 now in cinemas.