#TIFF25: “THE EXIT 8” REVIEW

By Amanda Gilmore

Director and Co-Writer Genki Kawamura makes a purgatory spin on Kotake Create’s cult game, The Exit 8 — a game in which the player is trapped in an endless underground passageway. The only way to leave through Exit 8 is to notice the anomalies and follow the rules.

In this film adaptation, the Lost Man (Kazunari “Nino” Ninomiya) is a commuter who receives a call from his ex-girlfriend — just before exiting the subway — informing him of her pregnancy. Once out of the subway, he will meet her to give his thoughts on this news. However, he soon finds himself in a continuous loop at the Exit 8 passageway. To leave, he must obey one rule: if he spots any anomalies, he must turn back. Miss a single one and he’s snapped to the start, condemned to loop again. 

Impressively, Kawamura and co-writer Kentaro Hirase have crafted a deeply-human story out of a Horror-Simulator game. Each time the Lost Man goes through the passageway, audiences learn more about the reason for the loop and the man himself. It all comes together to deliver a moving story about guilt, responsibility, and the paralysis of indecision.

For audiences familiar with the game, there aren’t too many ‘scary’ anomalies that happen in these passageways. There are trickles, but nothing horrifying. The Filmmakers rely more on their central storyline, which revolves around a young man’s anxieties about possibly becoming a father. The anomalies target those fears.

Overall, Exit 8 achieves a great feat in creating something human out of a short simulator game. That being said, the audience lives in this passageway for about 80 minutes. There are moments where it lulls and becomes redundant.

Exit 8 screens at TIFF ’25:

Mon. Sept 8 at 9:00 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Fri. Sept 12 at 9:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto