I never thought I’d see a video game adaptation playing the film festival circuit, but there’s a first time for anything, in this instance being TIFF 2025 film Exit 8, based on the indie horror title of the same name. Credit to director Genki Kawamura, he manages to craft a surprisingly effective meal out of a game whose average completion time is only about an hour.
The film follows an unnamed commuter titled The Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya) on his way to work as he receives a call from his ex-girlfriend (Nana Komatsu) informing him that she’s pregnant. However, just as she’s waiting for his reaction on whether she should keep the baby, the connection severs and the commuter realizes he can’t leave the station. In fact, he’s stuck in the same endlessly looping hallway.
The only way for him to possibly escape is to follow a simple guideline: Walk down the hallway and turn around the way he came if he detects an anomaly, no matter how big or small. Failure to go the right direction brings him right back to the beginning at Exit 0. Success brings him one closer to Exit 8, which promises his escape.
Ironically, my screening for this ended up being a case of life imitating art; the movie had to be restarted twice due its own anomalies (namely, missing sound and then missing subtitles). Just like the game, Exit 8 doesn’t rely on jump scares or a definitive “boogeyman” to derive tension and focuses on the psychological effect of being trapped in an endless, Backrooms-esque liminal space.
“I wouldn’t go as far as to say Exit 8 is an all-time great video game adaptation, but it’s certainly one that’s just as effective on its own terms, awareness of the game or not.”
It’s a space where The Lost Man finds himself confronted by the stagnance in his own life, which Kazunari Ninomiya portrays effectively in his performance.
The Lost Man isn’t truly alone in this situation as we also come to see a few other characters and their own attempts to escape this underground purgatory, primarily the Walking Man (Yamato Kôchi) the commuter keeps walking by in each loop, as well as a child (Naru Asanuma) who somehow ends up trapped as well. Some of the others are more slight and one character’s journey is pretty easily telegraphed from the get-go.
Even with the heavy use of repetition, the movie still managed to remain compelling throughout. The opening 15 minutes are entirely in first-person. It perfectly recreates the game’s hallway and posters adorned across it. Some of the later anomalies are just as appropriately unsettling. By the time the looping eventually started to wear thin, it was already coming to its conclusion. I wouldn’t go as far as to say Exit 8 is an all-time great video game adaptation, but it’s certainly one that’s just as effective on its own terms, awareness of the game or not.
