Genki Kawamura directs a strong adaptation of the 2023 horror videogame. Here’s our Exit 8 review. Adapting a videogame into a film is tricky. Firstly, they’re two completely different mediums, so even a game with a strong story is difficult to get right on screen because you aren’t actively shooting things, dying over and over ... Exit 8 review | Finally, a great videogame movie
Genki Kawamura directs a strong adaptation of the 2023 horror videogame. Here’s our Exit 8 review.
Adapting a videogame into a film is tricky. Firstly, they’re two completely different mediums, so even a game with a strong story is difficult to get right on screen because you aren’t actively shooting things, dying over and over again, and frustratedly ripping your own hair out. I write this from experience.
Thankfully, Genki Kawamura has really nailed it with Exit 8.
Based on the 2023 game of the same name, the film finds the Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya) stuck in an endless loop of corridors inside a metro station. To find the exit, he has to spot small anomalies and turn back if he sees them, otherwise he’ll end up back where he started.
It doesn’t help that the Lost Man suffers from asthma that gets worse with anxiety and fear.
It’s a simple premise; going into the film, there’s a fear it might even be a little too simple. Can Exit 8 sustain our interest for 95 minutes? Thankfully, Kawamura is clever enough to weave in some deeper themes to balance with the psychological horror elements.
Londoners – or just anyone who has found themselves in the sweaty bowels of a subway system – will immediately be able to relate to the Lost Man’s troubles before we even touch the emotional or horror-related ones. The film begins with the Lost Man in a packed metro where a pregnant woman is being harassed, but the man’s too scared to step in. It’s that one choice that haunts the Lost Man as he tries to find his way out. He’s then forced to find a stronger, braver side of himself when he encounters a little boy also lost in the corridors.
Exit 8 ultimately reveals itself to be a film about responsibility. The Lost Man receives a call from his girlfriend early on, in which she reveals she’s pregnant. She begs him to weigh in on what they should do. Towards the end, that theme becomes maybe a little heavy-handed, and Exit 8 comes to a slightly too neat conclusion. It’s a satisfying film all the same.
Early on, we learn that it’s not just the Lost Man and the boy roaming the eerily sterile hallways. The Walking Man (Yamato Kochi) has an expressionless look on his face and he has clearly lost himself there, a fate that might also await our protagonist. Exit 8 takes on The Walking Man’s point of view later on, which is another way it deepens its themes of responsibility and kindness.
But most importantly, Exit 8 feels like the game it’s based on. It refuses to sacrifice any of its elements to try and “elevate” itself, and the outcome is something that should please both fans of the game and those unfamiliar with it. Hardcore horror fans looking for something gory or particularly violent might find Exit 8 a little too simple. After all, Exit 8 is rated PG-13 in the US and 15 in the UK.
But a strong case could be made for Exit 8 being the best videogame adaptation of all time, and I don’t say that lightly. It retains the feel of the game, honours it, and manages to make it cinematic. It has solid work from everyone and, while not flawless, it’s impressive from start to finish.
Exit 8 is in UK cinemas now.
