April 6, 2026
by Carla Hay
Directed by Genki Kawamura
Japanese with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in Tokyo, the horror film “Exit 8” (based on the video game “The Exit 8”) features an all-Japanese cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Shortly after finding out that his girlfriend is pregnant, a man is trapped in a subway station, where some mysterious people also seem to be trapped.
Culture Audience: “Exit 8” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of “The Exit 8” video game and horror movies that take a while to reveal the story intentions.
“Exit 8” is a faithful adaptation of the video game “The Exit 8,” but the movie requires patience and curiosity to see how it ends because the scenes can get repetitive. It’s an artistically made story about a man trapped in a subway station with some mysterious people. “Exit 8” is effectively creepy in all the right places. It’s a psychological horror film, not a gory slasher movie.
Directed by Genki Kawamura, “Exit 8” was co-written by Kawamura and Kentaro Hirase. The movie had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. “Exit 8” is based on Kotake Create’s “The Exit 8” video game, which was released in 2023, with virtual-reality version released in 2024. “Exit 8” takes place in Tokyo, where the movie was filmed on location.
The characters in the “Exit 8” movie do not have names, so this review will refer to the characters by how these characters are listed in the movie’s end credits. “Exit 8” begins on a crowded subway, where a guy in his 20s, who’s listed in the end credits as the Lost Man (played by Kazunari Ninomiya), witnesses a man yelling at young mother because the baby she’s holding is crying loudly. While on the subway, the Lost Man gets a call from his girlfriend, who’s listed in the end credits as The Woman (played by Nana Komatsu), who tells the Lost Man that she’s pregnant.
The Lost Man seems to be surprised by this news, but he doesn’t say what he thinks his girlfriend should do about the pregnancy and doesn’t have an emotional response. Shortly after getting this news, the Lost Man exits the subway into the station and has an asthma attack. And then, things start to get very weird for him.
The Lost Man tries to find his way out of the station but all the doors are locked. After walking around the nearly deserted station, he notices that he’s just going around in circles and getting stuck in the same place. His phone has a signal, but he inexplicably can’t make outgoing calls.
The Lost Man notices a man in his 40s is walking in the station and seems to be lost too. This other traveler, who is listed in the end credits as the Walking Man (played by Yamato Kôchi) doesn’t speak, is holding a small briefcase, and seems to have robotic mannerisms. For example, the Walking Man often has a weird, frozen smile on his face. He also walks while staring straight ahead, as if he’s oblivious to anyone else who might be nearby.
The Lost Man becomes more panicked about the situation as time goes on, but he’s level-headed enough to figure out that he needs to find Exit 8 to leave. To keep track of where he’s going, he uses his phone to take photos of signs and walled poster advertisements that are in the subway station. The advertisements include services for a dentist, cosmetic surgery and a judicial business.
Other bizarre things happen during the Lost Man’s walking in a seemingly endless loop inside the subway station. He hears a baby crying inside a locker at the station. When he opens the locker, it’s empty, and the baby’s crying stops.
The Lost Man then gets a phone call from his girlfriend, who says she can’t decide what to do about the pregnancy. The Lost Man tells her that he’s stuck in a subway station but he assures her he’ll find an exit as soon as he can. Whatever the thinks about this pregnancy, he seems to want to wait to see her in person to discuss it.
After this phone conversation ends, the Lost Man notices that he’s at Exit 0. The subway station walls turn yellow and then turn white again, which he understands to mean that if this is a game, the game has “reset,” and he has to start all over again. Exit 8 keeps appearing, but the door remains locked.
Lost Man figures out that when he returns to walkways, there could be something different about the walkway that wasn’t there the previous time that he walked through, such as a poster that’s changed or a sign that looks different. When he says out loud what the anamoly is, he seems to be “rewarded” with getting one step closer to finding Exit 8.
After a certain period of time, the Lost Man notices that a boy, who appears to be about 5 or 6 years old, is following the Walking Man. This child is referred to as the Boy (played by Naru Asanuma) in the movie’s end credits. The Boy has a bloody red mark on the left side of his face, but it’s unknown how he got this mark. Just like the Lost Man, the Boy is being ignored by the Walking Man, who does not know the Boy and is not related to him.
The Lost Man encounters another strange person, who is listed in the end credits as the High School Girl (played by Kotone Hanase), a teenager wearing a school uniform. Just like the Lost Man, she is also trapped in the subway station without knowing anyone. She speaks, but in a way that sounds like a malfunctioning robot that has a glitch causing sentences to be repeated several times in a row.
The High School Girl is also walking in the subway station and trying to find the exit. She asks the Lost Man, “Are we dead? Are we in hell?” She then says to the Lost Man that going to work on a packed subway to do the same thing day after day—now, that sounds like hell.
The Boy seems desperate for adult guidance in leaving the subway station, and he eventually becomes the Lost Man’s walking companion in their quest to find Exit 8. The Lost Man welcomes this companionship and starts to feel protective toward the Boy. However, danger lurks in this subway station. The rest of the movie shows if anyone makes it out alive.
“Exit 8” effectively uses an eerie sound design and a haunting and suspenseful music score composed by Yasutaka Nakata and Shohei Amimori. Keisuke Imamura’s cinematography succeeds in creative the immersive atmosphere and the feeling of being trapped in an endless maze. nd has a few intense horror scenes, but most of “Exit 8” shows people walking around this maze-like subway station. Even with this repetition, “Exit 8” is well-paced and keeps viewers guessing about could be the meaning of this story.
The principal cast members perform sufficiently in “Exit 8,” with Ninomiya having to do most of the acting that involves a wide range of emotions. There’s nothing bad about the acting, but the acting isn’t award-worthy either. The main appeal in “Exit 8” is in unlocking the mystery of this perplexing subway station, which can be interpreted as a symbol of life’s uncertainties.
Neon will release “Exit 8” in select U.S. cinemas on April 10, 2026. The movie was released in Japan on August 29, 2025.