Exit 8 (2025 | Japan | 95 minutes | Genki Kawamura)
Imagine being stuck in an endless loop through a subway station hallway. If you aren’t meticulous enough to notice any little detail that alters from the “original”, you start all over again. It seems simple enough, right? I mean you just memorize all the minute details about every aspect in the hallway, but make a mistake and you start over… but the stakes start to rise, your secret innermost fears are brought to light and you could even start losing your mind. Not so simple.
For folks that don’t run in these kinds of circles (me being one of them), the new psychological thriller by Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura, Exit 8, is based on a video game of the same name released not two years before the creation of the film. As the plot became clear within the first few minutes, I briefly wondered “how can they stretch this into an hour and half story?”; but then you could say the same thing about Groundhog Day and look how that turned out. Unlike the aforementioned Bill Murray joint, Exit 8 is not comedic in the slightest, but just as thought-provoking. On the contrary it is quite anxiety-inducing just like it’s video game predecessor; lets just say I’m glad I don’t play video games like this.
If you’re past the age of 15, then you’ve probably had to make choices that you’d rather run away from and this film preys on insecurities, pushing viewers to confront aspects of life that we’d all rather leave behind. The Lost Man lead was relatable, but also brought to mind our lowest points emotionally and mentally. To make matters worse, Kawamura added fear-induced asthma to our protagonist’s burdens giving me a little unexpected taste of hyperventilation. Combining the physical and psychological had me taking a deep breaths just to reassure that I wasn’t the one in the middle of the mess . There are brief overtly horror-y moments, but by and large this is a character and story driven film and I was whole-heartedly in it. I tend to fall deep into any plot, even the most ridiculous (I may hide tears more often than not from my fellow critics), but these types of existentially probing storylines swallow me whole and I’m happily consumed.
A fun note to end on, to commemorate Exit 8’s incarnation as a feature film, Kawamura — working in tandem with Kotake Create — will release a new “anomaly,” or extension, of the popular video games. So if you’re into existential dread for fun, then have at it. I’m sure it’ll have you short of breath, or at least facing your inner demons, in no time.
Exit 8 is in theaters now