EXIT 8
Starring: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yamato Kôchi, Naru Asanuma, Kotone Hanase, and Nana Komatsu
Director: Genki Kawamura
ADRIANO
As someone who has never played the game on which it's based, I think Exit 8 works because it's completely unashamed of its video game origins. The film's weird escape room concept feels like it's operating under the mechanics of a video game, giving us a fun escape thriller that works on incredible levels... when it's a thriller. Whenever it leans into the metaphor about fatherhood, it isn't effective, taking me out of an otherwise very engaging film. That, unfortunately, did affect my overall enjoyment of Exit 8, but it was still a fascinating experience nonetheless.
QUENTIN
Unbeknownst to me, Exit 8 is based on a video game. I can 100 percent see how the game — a psychological horror walking simulator — would be equally addictive and frustrating, especially in VR. In fact, the movie adaptation does a great job of capturing the overall feeling of a VR game, particularly with the shot framing. However, as a non-participatory viewer, it becomes monotonous rather quickly despite director Genki Kawamura doing his best to switch things up around the halfway point. Still, Exit 8 is mostly effective, flaws and all, but it might have been better as an episode of an anthology series.
ROBERT
Full disclosure, I am a sucker for looping Hell/purgatory plot devices where someone must grow or discover something about themselves they never knew existed to escape. Exit 8 rendered this concept beautifully into a 90-minute thriller where stories and characters overlapped unexpectedly. The use of camera angles and lighting changes to account for upheaval in the main storyline kept me locked in while the set never changed. The emotional story beats about not being a slave to indecision and family worked for me. If the last castle in the NES version of Super Mario Bros. was a cinematic experience, it would be Exit 8.
KATIE
Exit 8’s straightforward but compelling premise follows a commuter (Kazunari Ninomiya) who becomes stuck in the maddeningly sterile, endlessly looping hallway of a subway, forced to spot anomalies to escape. I was immediately on board with how it begins with a POV shot, truly recreating the feeling of playing a video game, and although I was worried the simple concept couldn’t sustain its intrigue over a feature-length runtime, it remains surprisingly effective. It has some delightfully chilling moments, and as the viewer, I was also obsessively looking for anomalies in the unnervingly fluorescent hallways.
This film was reviewed by Adriano and Quentin as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and Fantasy Filmfest 2025, respectively.