Liminal spaces are making a comeback … or rather, an arrival. With the success of Kane Parsons’s high-grossing 2026 hit Backrooms and the word-of-mouth reputation of Alexander Ullom’s 2025 It Ends (a film initially released on Letterboxd Video Store then later theatrically released by NEON), there’s something about empty, quiet places that go on indefinitely that horror audiences find comfort within. Enter Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8, a film based on a spooky 2023 video game of the same name. Kawamura’s film works on many levels: on the surface as a short effective horror film and below the surface as a nuanced exploration of the human psyche.
If you’re looking for a spoiler-free review, head over to EoM Contributor Justin Waldman’s initial TIFF 2025 review.
Kazunari Ninomiya as The Lost Man in EXIT 8. Photo courtesy of NEON/DECAL Releasing.
An unnamed man (Kazunari Ninomiya, listed as “The Lost Man”) finds himself in a never-ending hell and becomes desperate to escape a looping subway corridor. As he rounds corner after corner, he starts to realize the mind-bending game he has found himself in. When he turns a corner, if he sees something out of the ordinary — or an anomaly — he is to turn around immediately. If he doesn’t turn away from the anomaly and goes forward, the game starts back at level 0 (Exit 0). The more he spots the anomalies and turns around accordingly, the closer he gets to his escape — Exit 8.
Yamato Kôchi as The Walking Man in EXIT 8. Photo courtesy of TIFF.
Kawamura’s Exit 8 pays homage to its source of adaptation in the most flattering way in its opening scenes. We open up the film with The Lost Man’s POV, aimed right into his cellphone, scrolling through social media — in unison with everyone else on the subway. As he looks at and ignores a man berating a woman with a crying newborn on the train, he receives a call from his recent ex-girlfriend (Nana Komatsu) who tells him she’s pregnant. As he walks off the train and wrestles with this news (the audience still sharing his POV), he walks down a subway corridor, losing his signal. He turns a corner, sees a man (Yamato Kochi) walk past him, he walks another identical corner, sees the same man, he walks another identical corner… Before long, we’re snapped out of his silently unsettling POV and start to witness the full scope of the nightmare this unnamed protagonist has walked into. Taking inspiration not just from the terrifying video game but from first person games in general, Exit 8 establishes itself as anything but your ordinary horror film. As the story progresses, we don’t just learn the origins of other characters (the creepy walking man referenced earlier as well as other characters lost within the endless corridor), we follow the main protagonist as he tries to understand why and how he is in this never-ending world. Is this karma for The Lost Man’s apprehension of becoming a father? Is he dead? Is this purgatory or hell? Kazunari Ninomiya (Tekkonkinkreet) carries the role well; he delivers a performance that accurately swings from desperation to confoundment to terror to frustration. Any film in the hands of a lesser actor would have a performance that negatively takes away from the film’s power, where in this case, the performance benefits the film’s madness.
L-R: Naru Asanuma as The Boy and Kazunari Ninomiya as The Lost Man in EXIT 8. Photo courtesy of NEON/DECAL Releasing.
Exit 8 is short (clocking in at 95 minutes), holds its video game influences on its sleeve, and delivers a thoughtful horror film that examines the human psyche. As discussed in this release’s featurette, producer Kenji Yamada (also known for Godzilla Minus One and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster) came to director Kawamura with the 1979 self-referential book Gödel, Escher, Bach in which all three figures’ works are examined and connected to intellectual themes. Self-referential loops are discussed in this novel and how they may be the core fundamental nature of human beings and consciousness. M. C. Escher’s work itself, Möbius Strip II (Red Ants), is even referenced in the film as we follow our unnamed contestant through the same corridors. These artistic references paired with clever existential horror makes Exit 8 one of the most exciting horror adaptations made in recent years. NEON’s Blu-Ray release has a supplemental list as short as its runtime: a Q&A with the writer/director, the aforementioned “making of” featurette, and a theatrical trailer.
For lovers of inventive horror films and studies of the human psyche, Exit 8 is a no-brainer of a choice to bring home.
Exit 8 Special Features:
- Q&A with Genki Kawamura
- The Making of Exit 8
- Trailer
Available on Blu-ray August 7th, 2028.
For more information, head to the official NEON Exit 8 webpage.
To purchase, head to the official NEON Shop Exit 8 webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews
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