In today’s cinema landscape, one of the most frightening phrases to hear is, “Based on a video game.” The movies have a long history of game adaptations, but 99 percent of them failed to successfully translate to the big screen. Armed with supreme skill, filmmaker Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8 breaks the mold, by creating an intensely frightening, surprisingly moving, edge-of-your-seat cinematic experience.
Adapted for the screen by Hirase Kintaro and director Kawamura, this is a film designed with deep respect to not only the storylines laid out by the 2023 game from Kotake Create, but to fans of intense horror. The director has gifted this somewhat new year with a superbly crafted motion picture that holds its audience in a state of disturbing dread and inescapable fear.
Exit 8 begins with “The Lost Man” (a terrific Kazunari Ninomiya) as he leaves a subway train. The crowded car is full of people keeping their heads down and glued to their phones. A baby starts crying and its mother tries to calm the child. An unruly man begins to berate the woman and her child. No one helps. The Lost Man wants to, but succumbs to the vibe of the train passengers and keeps his headphones in while looking away. The Lost Man’s ex-partner (Nana Komatsu) has just revealed her pregnancy and this is no time for added stress
When he exits the subway car, his phone rings. It is his ex wanting to know what they should do about the baby. As Lost Man ascends a stairway, she begins to tell him about her own decision. Just then, the connection becomes too garbled and the call is lost. As our protagonist finds himself in an unfamiliar hallway, eerie repetitions begin to occur.
Immediately unnerving, the film guides the audience through an ever-growing tension, experienced through the Lost Man’s perspective. One minute, everything is hustle-bustle and there are commuters everywhere. The next, as he moves further down the winding tunnel way, the Lost Man finds himself trapped and alone, for a time. There is another. Like a finely tuned clock, The Walking Man (Kōchi Yamato) consistently re-emerges from around a bend. Never acknowledging Lost Man, the Walking Man seems to be a worker-bee who silently passes by the Lost Man at regular intervals, gripping tight to his briefcase and walking with a rigid posture and deliberate pace.
Is this a ghost or perhaps a man trapped in the same inescapable loop as The Lost Man? The film finds creative ways to answer those queries while keeping the story fresh and consistently involving. The characters are not cogs in the screenplay’s wheels. There is surprising dramatic weight to their predicaments and real emotion in their well-defined backstories. Where most modern horror movies prefer caricatures, Kawamura and Kintaro have taken great care in crafting relatable souls to populate their film.
Exit 8 achieves and maintains an unrelenting tension through its atmospheric pull. Kawamura’s focused direction and Keisuke Imamura’s flowing camerawork create something quite disturbing through movement and clever framing. With The Lost Man’s moralistic dilemmas and his desire to get the hell out of there (and hopefully find his inner strength), the film’s boogeyman is born from, as Rod Serling wrote, “… the pit of man’s fears…”
One of the most striking aspects of the screenplay is the presence of a profound emotional weight. The Lost Man’s fears are many and perhaps his mistakes are legion. We immediately learn how the character does not welcome confrontation. The heaviest weight is his fear of fatherhood and, ultimately, facing his mistakes. The Lost Man’s personal damning of what he may perceive as questionable morality (regarding what he will choose regarding the unborn child) will color his resolve. Life choices become clearer as he fights to escape from the surreal nightmare of the tunnels.
As the film adds a third act character, The Lost Man’s heart and soul will be shaped forever, as the film finds a deep-rooted emotional core. After creating such a terrifying through-line, Exit 8 takes its story to an unexpected level of grace.
What these characters are forced to confront within themselves brings to mind a quote from the master, Akira Kurosawa; “The terrible thing is that people who are madmen in private may wear a totally bland and innocent expression in public.” Flipping Kurosawa’s observation just a bit, this speaks to many of the philosophical themes that flow through this wonderfully crafted film.
There is so much to say about Genki Kawamura’s second feature (his first being the sumptuous A Hundred Flowers from 2022), but I dare not speak too freely. This is a cinematic work to experience. One must immerse themselves in the dark of the theater and become enraptured by such a creepy yet soulful cinematic journey.
Genki Kawamura has done the impossible. The filmmaker turned a video game into a white-knuckle tense and truly creepy horror picture.
That the film manages to frighten while saying something profound within its emotional boundaries makes Exit 8 one of the very best films of 2026.
Exit 8
Written by Hirase Kintaro & Genki Kawamura (based on the video game of the same name by Kotake Create)
Directed by Genki Kawamura
Starring Kazunari Ninomiya, Kōchi Yamato, Naru Asanuma, Nana Komatsu
PG-13, 95 Minutes, Neon, AOI Productions
