Exit 8 – Review

Based on a video game, Exit 8 brings the strangeness almost immediately and lets it ride out the whole film. A simple premise turns into a waking nightmare for the main protagonist, as he struggles with a very odd situation.

As a man (Ninomiya) scrolls through his phone on the crowded subway car, a crying baby gets him to put in his earphones and block out the noise. Good timing too as a phone call comes in immediately after from a girl. He doesn’t accept it. He gets off at his desired destination, and begins strolling towards exit 8.

His phone rings again, this time he takes the call from the same girl (Komatsu). And the caller’s news? She is at the hospital, and is pregnant. The man struggles to cope with this news, and walks up stairs as floods of people surround him. The female reminds him he has always struggled with the idea of being a father, so there is a decision to be made. The man takes a hit of his asthma inhaler. His loses his call in the subway system.

Then… suddenly… the swarms of people are gone, having all taken different routes, or something like that. The signs for exit 8 are easy enough to follow, but they don’t seem to be leading anywhere. He turns corner after corner, and seems to wind up in the same place, with only one other walking man (Kôchi) just strolling around. Things get even weirder when some pretty odd stuff begins to occur. Then, our main characters spots some “rules.” What the hell??

Exit 8 has a fairly simple setup, and pretty strange, yet rewarding progression. The extremely limited cast does a good job with the story, bringing in the right emotions to the situation. The film presents a nice balance of realism and nightmare, and makes the viewer consider what they would do if stuck in subway hell. Going in circles is thematically pumped into this movie, both literally and figuratively. Despite a bland and sterile setting, the director utilizes interesting visuals and keeps the pace quick and the runtime short. Check it out if you want something strange and interesting.

Do not overlook any anomalies.

I have not played the game this was based on, but the film makes me want to.