‘Exit 8’ review: Winning video game adaptation is worth getting lost in

Movie review

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A man takes a wrong turn after exiting a subway car and finds himself in a nearly never-ending loop from which there is no easy escape. As he attempts to break free to return to his own deeply uncertain future, he’ll find that the world around him is distorting before his eyes. He has to remain focused on every detail while holding tightly to his sanity, or he may find himself locked away in the subway tunnels forever.

This is the compelling, darkly playful and evocatively existential premise of “Exit 8,” director Genki Kawamura’s technically well-crafted if narratively hit-and-miss adaptation of the video game of the same name. The game, while mechanically simple, was effectively engaging, requiring players to pay meticulous attention to every pixel so as not to miss any “anomalies.” These anomalies can be as minute as a doorknob being slightly off or as noticeable as the power going out entirely. Both the game and the film boast some light horror elements, but it’s the constantly tense atmosphere where the latter especially thrives. 

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Even when nothing seems to be wrong, your mind begins to question itself, pondering if you’re not seeing something. Was that poster really like that before? Is that 8, which notably looks a lot like the infinity symbol, actually turned upside down? Have the hours without food or sleep made it so you can’t trust the perceptions of the young man who is trapped down here?

These questions swirl around the fellow we are introduced to via on-screen text as the Lost Man. Played by Kazunari Ninomiya of the Japanese idol group Arashi, he was just commuting when a call from someone close to him leaves him more than a little rattled and uncertain about his future. Little does he know his journey will then become a nightmare commute that will make being stuck on Interstate 5 in rush-hour traffic look like a walk in the park. Soon he’ll find himself in a subway tunnel that seems never to end, with a figure walking toward him with a fixed expression on his face or, more nightmarishly, a creepy smile in the instances when he turns to look back at him. 

We’ll spend most of the opening with the Lost Man as he, refreshingly, figures out what is going on rather quickly. But knowing what is going on is one thing — getting out is another. As the film shows us in a few diversions that build out some broadly sketched lore surrounding the setting, he’s far from the first person to have found himself seemingly all alone down here.

These expansions, ones that the film can call almost entirely its own, are interesting additions, but far less memorable than the way everything is constructed. Namely, Ryo Sugimoto’s perfect production design and the shifting ways it is all shot ensure everything feels immersive and maddening. While the film begins with a first-person perspective mirroring the game, it soon breaks this formal approach, and we begin to see things that the Lost Man is frequently missing, instilling the entire experience with a growing sense of heavy dread when we know he is going to have to start over again. It’s like you’re watching someone play the highest-stakes game of “Spot the Difference” ever, but are unable to offer any advice. All you can do is sit back and watch helplessly as characters get bombarded with sights meant to knock them off balance (several of which are obvious “The Shining” references) just as other smaller anomalies slip by.

It makes for an entertaining watch in which the attention to detail in every technical element helps smooth over the scattered and superficial story’s many residual shortcomings. It’s still a shame the narrative doesn’t linger as its visuals do. This ultimately holds it back from being as great as other recent films that thrive in what’s become almost a subgenre of “liminal space horror,” such as the spectacular “Skinamarink” and the haunting upcoming “It Ends.” 

With that in mind, a resonant power remains lurking underneath “Exit 8” that hits home in an era painfully defined by going through the motions of each day as all else threatens to crumble around us. That the film threatens to trap us in this feeling before providing what may be a small glimpse of hope instills its dark story with some light. However, next time it’d probably be best for the Lost Man if he found a different way to work.

‘Exit 8’ ★★½ (out of four)
With Kazunari Ninomiya, Yamato Kochi, Naru Asanuma, Nana Komatsu. Directed by Genki Kawamura, from a screenplay written by Kawamura and Kentaro Hirase based on the video game. 95 minutes. In Japanese with English subtitles. Rated PG-13 for some bloody images and terror. Opens April 9 at multiple theaters.

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