--- title: "Exit 8" year: 2025 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/exit-8" fi1m_id: "exit-8" imdb_id: "tt35222590" tmdb_id: 1408208 wikidata_id: "Q134480207" fi1m_score: 72 critics_score: 76 critics_reviews: 16 published: "2026-09-09" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:43.601333+00:00" region: "HR" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Exit 8 (2025) Directed by Genki Kawamura · 1h 35m · Horror, Mystery, Thriller ## Identity Exit 8 - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/exit-8 - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** exit-8 - **IMDb ID:** tt35222590 - **TMDB ID:** 1408208 - **Wikidata ID:** Q134480207 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35222590/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1408208, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134480207 **Fi1m score: 72** · Critics 76 from 16 reviews *In a sentence:* Every commuter’s nightmare: the underpass goes on, the posters change, and the same man in a suit keeps walking towards you > Genki Kawamura turns a spot-the-difference video game into a white-tiled nightmare about a man who cannot decide anything, and for an hour it is quietly frightening. Then it sits down to explain itself, and the corridor loses its grip. ## Synopsis A man (Kazunari Ninomiya), credited only as Lost Man, is riding a crowded Tokyo train when his partner (Nana Komatsu) rings to tell him she is pregnant and to ask what he wants to do. He does not know. Further down the carriage a passenger is shouting at a mother with a crying child, and nobody looks up. He leaves the train, walks down into the station underpass, and finds that the corridor does not end. A sign gives him the rules: if you see anything wrong, turn back; if you see nothing, keep going; reach Exit 8. A man in a suit (Yamato Kochi) walks towards him, every time. Genki Kawamura directs and co-writes this adaptation of the video game. ## Review *Exit 8* is adapted from a video game in which you walk down a subway corridor, look for something wrong, and turn back if you find it. That is the whole game, and Genki Kawamura, directing and writing with Kentaro Hirase, has had the sense to keep it as the whole film for as long as he can. A man (Kazunari Ninomiya, billed only as Lost Man) is on a crowded Tokyo train, earbuds in, when his partner (Nana Komatsu) rings: she is pregnant, and what does he think. He does not know what he thinks. At the far end of the carriage a man is screaming at a mother whose child will not stop crying, and nobody, our man included, looks up. He gets off, goes down into the underpass, and the underpass keeps going. White tiles, a yellow line on the floor, a right turn, a sign that says Exit 8 is ahead. A notice gives him the rules: if you see an anomaly, turn back; if you see none, carry on; find Exit 8. For an hour this is as good a piece of quiet horror as we have sat through in a while. Then the film stops walking and starts talking, and it is a lesser thing for it. Good, and worth your evening if you like being made uneasy. Keisuke Imamura shoots most of it from just behind Ninomiya’s shoulder, in long takes, and lights it flat and bright so there are no shadows for anything to hide in. That turns out to be worse than dark. Ryo Sugimoto’s corridor is so exactly like every station underpass you have ever hurried through, down to the scuffed skirting and the grille in the ceiling, that when a poster changes or a door stands an inch open the eye catches it before the brain does. We scanned the frame like a proof-reader, and we were not proud of how badly we wanted to spot it first. The man in the suit is the film’s best idea. Yamato Kochi, billed as Walking Man, comes towards the camera on every loop, eyes front, briefcase in hand, at the same pace. For twenty minutes he is the only other person in the world and he is precisely the same each time. So when he is at last fractionally not the same, we felt the back of our neck go cold, and we had not felt that in a horror film for some time. Ninomiya’s job is harder and he does it well. The Lost Man does not decide things, and Ninomiya plays the panic small: a swallow, a glance back, a hand that goes to his phone and finds no signal. Sakura Seya cuts each reset hard, with nothing under it, so the return to the start becomes its own small jolt. Yasutaka Nakata and Shouhei Amimori keep the score out of the way for most of the running time, a low hum under the strip lights, and when it finally arrives it counts. Then the film widens, in ways we will not describe, and the Lost Man’s trouble with the baby is spelt out in full. Kawamura and Hirase plainly believe the corridor is about a man who lets a stranger scream at a mother and then cannot say yes to his own child, and the corridor had already told us so without a word. For the last twenty minutes we were aware of how long was left, and cross about it, because the film had earned our attention and then spent it on a lesson. Most video-game adaptations fail by adding too much. This one adds a little, late, and gets away with more than most because it started so spare. At 95 minutes it is the right length for the idea and about a quarter of an hour too long for the film. You will notice, next time you are in an underpass, that you are counting the turns. *Fi1m score 72, published 9 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics agree that Exit 8 is a rare video-game adaptation that works, and the spread is narrow: nothing in the reviews so far is hostile, and the reservations are matters of degree. Praise clusters in two places. First, the look of the thing: the white-tiled, endlessly repeating subway corridor, the patient long takes, and a flat brightness several critics call uncanny. Second, Kawamura’s decision to add what the game never had, a protagonist stalling over impending fatherhood, which most reviews find gives the loop a point about drift and indecision. The Wrap goes furthest, placing it near the top of the form. The reservations cluster in the back half. Several critics say the repetition, effective early, turns numbing at feature length, and that the tension leaks once flashbacks and conversation arrive. /Film is the lowest, finding the looping tedious despite the dread. Time Out and Screen Daily call the theme heavy-handed. ## Straight answers **Is Exit 8 worth watching?** *Exit 8* is worth watching for anyone who likes being made uneasy rather than frightened outright, and we scored it 72. For an hour it is a fine piece of quiet horror in a white-tiled underpass that will not end. The last twenty minutes stop walking and start explaining, and the film loses some of its grip. **How long is Exit 8, and what is it rated?** *Exit 8* runs 1h 35m. It is a horror and mystery film. **Where can I watch Exit 8 in Croatia?** *Exit 8* is not on any streaming or rental service in Croatia at the moment. It is available in 23 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Exit 8, and is it suitable for children?** *Exit 8* carries a UK 15 certificate, and its fear comes from dread rather than gore: a bright, empty corridor, a poster that changes, a man in a suit who is very slightly not the same as last time. There is little on-screen violence in the review's account. It suits teenagers who can sit with slow unease; younger children would find it either dull or unsettling. **How does Exit 8 compare to Cube?** *Exit 8* and [*Cube*](https://film.one/film/cube) both trap people in a space with rules they must work out, but *Exit 8* is the sparer, quieter film, following one man rather than a squabbling group. *Cube* is the more resourceful thriller and its puzzles hold up longer, though its arguments drag. *Exit 8* frightens more; *Cube* entertains more. **What should I watch after Exit 8?** After *Exit 8*, try [*Cure*](https://film.one/film/cure) (1997, Fi1m 85): Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s detective story, where the frightening thing is how calmly people do harm. Then [*Cube*](https://film.one/film/cube) (1997, Fi1m 76): Strangers wake in a box of rooms with rules they must work out fast; and [*The Exterminating Angel*](https://film.one/film/the-exterminating-angel) (1962, Fi1m 87): Buñuel’s dinner guests find they cannot leave the party, and nobody can say why. ### Reviews we read (22) - **The New Yorker**, Justin Chang (85/100, inferred): Kawamura's clever adaptation is sleek and precise, subverting the game's minimalism by expanding into multiple characters and a moral argument about apathy and fatherhood. It praises the elegant long takes and the way it turns the loop into a meditation on conformity and possibility. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-current-cinema/exit-8-is-a-video-game-adaptation-that-ingeniously-subverts-its-source) - **IndieWire**, Blake Simons (B+): Kawamura puts an arthouse spin on the popular indie game, transforming the claustrophobic corridors into a site of psychological exploration and national anxieties in a delightful blockbuster provocation. The critic praises how it exploits the frustrations of the looping premise and elevates the material with resonant themes of impending fatherhood. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/exit-8-movie-review-1235126044/) - **Little White Lies**, Josh Slater-Williams (3/4/3): The review praises the film as one of the better video-game-to-cinema translations, replicating the spot-the-difference mechanics and building effective psychological horror and dread. The third act loses some momentum when characters linger and talk. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/exit-8) - **Radio Times**, Matt Glasby (4/5): The review calls it a disquieting mystery that turns the subway's liminal space into a true nightmare with hidden details, jump scares and deep existential dread. It ranks among the best video-game adaptations. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-gb3xxz/exit-8/) - **The Guardian** (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a taut, unnerving psychological mystery and a rare successful video-game adaptation that stays close to its source. They single out its evocation of modern 'non-places' and the protagonist's entrapment in an endless corridor as creating an elegant, chilly dream of despair. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/apr/22/exit-8-movie-review-corridor-subway-station-mystery-video-game) - **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (80/100, inferred): The film is an intellectual and exciting existential puzzle about wrong choices and right actions in a looping white-tiled limbo. It singles out the simple yet uncanny rules and the liminal space as a metaphor for autopilot lives. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/movies/exit-8-film-review.html) - **Variety**, Jessica Kiang (80/100, inferred): Kawamura's inventive reimagining is an enjoyable, elegantly spare puzzle that adds psychological depth and moral allegory while staying true to the game's spartan concept. It praises the hyperreal eeriness of the flat bright images and the judicious minimalism of backstory. [Read](https://variety.com/2025/film/reviews/exit-8-review-1236523751/) - **Vulture** (80/100, inferred): Exit 8 is an actually good video-game adaptation guided as much by pressures around declining birth rates and impending parenthood as by its looping subway hallway premise. The critic praises its gratifying artfulness in inventing a complementary narrative and its ability to deliver genuine creepouts amid the claustrophobic setting. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/exit-8-review-an-actually-good-video-game-adaptation.html) - **RogerEbert.com**, Brian Tallerico (70/100, inferred): The film channels the game's simple looping rules into an effective early dreamscape of anomalies and repetition but loses steam as a feature-length adaptation. It praises the striking visuals and symbolic expansion beyond the protagonist but notes the sterility becomes numbing. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/exit-8-video-game-movie-review-2026) - **The AV Club**, Jacob Oller (B-): The adaptation is both beautiful and banal, living up to its source by turning mundane liminal spaces into places for reflection and frustration, though the experience of watching endless hallway loops is tedious. The critic singles out its engrossing aesthetic and smart use of tedium to create something contemplative and uncanny. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/exit-8-review) - **Los Angeles Times**, Robert Abele (65/100, inferred): The movie aims to replicate the game's puzzle experience but falls short as pure experimentation or horror, though it earns liminal fascination by fusing viewer perspective to the protagonist. It praises the patient Steadicam shots and ambition to be both purgatory and formal advance. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-04-10/exit-8-review-kotake-create-video-game-genki-kawamura) - **Time Out**, Matthew Singer (3/5): The critic describes it as an unsettling anxiety dream and effective metaphor for life's inescapable loops, with strong claustrophobic production design. It prioritises unease over full nightmare intensity and feels somewhat heavy-handed. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/exit-8-review-2026) - **Financial Times**, Jonathan Romney: The review presents the film as a bracingly weird Japanese horror that riffs on the nightmare of commuting via a video-game adaptation set in a repeating Tokyo subway corridor. It highlights the survival rules around spotting anomalies and the encounters with other characters in the looping space. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/e82391c3-d475-4409-8e7a-01346a233841) - **Screen Daily**: The critic hails the ingenious, twisting chiller that captures the game's feel with tricky rules and repetition, evoking purgatory and personal conscience. It should achieve cult status, though the theme is handled with some mawkishness. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/exit-8-review-tokyos-subway-is-an-endless-purgatory-in-ingenious-video-game-adaptation/5205197.article) - **Sight and Sound**: The critic finds the film a creepy, claustrophobic time-loop horror that effectively adapts the game's endless repetition and anomalies to terrifying effect. Tension dissipates later as it shifts to flashbacks and a more conventional emotional resolution. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/exit-8-video-game-turned-claustrophobic-time-loop-horror-movie) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Jordan Mintzer: The film is a creepy if redundant video game adaptation that blends J-Horror tropes into a surreal single-location thriller about a man trapped in a looping Tokyo subway tunnel. The critic notes it sustains a tone of surreal dread but complains that it lacks interesting characters or much story beyond the source game. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/exit-8-review-video-game-japanese-1236553497/) - **The Wrap** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film potentially the best video game adaptation yet, praising its brisk, absorbing take on the game's looping corridor premise as a scary, personal horror story about one man's inability to face change and move forward in life. They highlight the effective cinematography that draws viewers into spotting anomalies alongside the protagonist. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/exit-8-movie-review/) - **Film Stories**, Maria Lattila (85/100, inferred): The critic praises Kawamura for nailing the adaptation by retaining the game's feel and adding themes of responsibility; singles out the strong thematic depth and fidelity to the source as praise, while noting it might be too simple for hardcore horror fans. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/exit-8-review-finally-a-great-videogame-movie/) - **The Playlist**, Marshall Shaffer (B+): The critic lauds the film for successfully translating the video game's iterative gameplay into cinema through its doom loop structure, praising the empathetic storytelling and self-examination themes. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/exit-8-review-genki-kawamuras-existential-doom-loop-nails-the-video-game-adaptation-20260407/) - **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (5.5/10): The critic finds the liminal horror effective at creating dread but criticizes the repetitive nature that becomes tedious, singling out the monotonous looping as the main complaint despite strong creepy vibes. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/2143418/exit-8-horror-movie-review/) - **Collider**, Therese Lacson: The critic praises the film for capturing the game's puzzle-like frustration and anxiety through repetitive loops and shifting perspectives, turning the simple premise into a compelling narrative about the protagonist's indecision over impending fatherhood and personal growth in a purgatorial setting. [Read](https://collider.com/exit-8-movie-review/) - **Polygon**, Paulo Kawanishi: The critic calls it an effective and ambitious horror adaptation that expands the game's eerie corridor into a rich metaphor for the protagonist's emotional uncertainties, indecision about fatherhood, and broader cycles of masculinity and life decisions. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/exit-8-movie-review-game-adaptation/) ## Details - **Director:** Genki Kawamura - **Director:** Genki Kawamura - **Screenplay:** Genki Kawamura, Kentaro Hirase - **Cinematography:** Keisuke Imamura - **Editor:** Sakura Seya - **Music:** Shouhei Amimori, Yasutaka Nakata - **Production design:** Ryo Sugimoto - **Costume design:** Daisuke Iga - **Producer:** Minami Ichikawa, Taichi Ueda, Yoshihiro Furusawa - **Cast:** Kazunari Ninomiya as Lost Man; Yamato Kouchi as Walking Man; Naru Asanuma as The Boy; Kotone Hanase as High School Student; Nana Komatsu as Lost Man's Partner; Hirota Otsuka as Screaming Man on Train; Tara Nakashima as Mother on Train; Reo Soda as Child - **Runtime:** 1h 35m - **First release (France):** 19 May 2025 - **Genres:** Horror, Mystery, Thriller - **Budget:** $1 million - **Box office:** $44 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzEDWwhtAHc ## Where to watch in Croatia Not streaming, renting or buying in Croatia at the last check. Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, JP, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Cure* (1997), Fi1m 85: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s detective story, where the frightening thing is how calmly people do harm. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/cure.md) - *Cube* (1997), Fi1m 76: Strangers wake in a box of rooms with rules they must work out fast. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/cube.md) - *Triangle* (2009): A loop aboard an empty liner, and the slow horror of recognising the pattern. - *The Exterminating Angel* (1962), Fi1m 87: Buñuel’s dinner guests find they cannot leave the party, and nobody can say why. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-exterminating-angel.md) - *Skinamarink* (2022): Two children, one dark house, and a camera that stares at corners until they move. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/exit-8