Exit 8 Review

Because Everyone has Already Reviewed The Drama

So, yesterday (or a few days ago depending on when I finish/schedule this to release) I decided to drive out to a Regal that was kind of out of the way to watch Exit 8, this will be the third indie horror video game adaptation to come out so far this year in North America, the other two being Markiplier’s Iron Lung, and The Mortuary Assistant, and my god, indie horror as a genre is having a hell of a time and we might be reaching a new renaissance of horror in general since the rise of John Carpenter in the 80’s.

Exit 8 technically came out last year with a Cannes screening and was bought by Neon (along with every other Cannes feature last year) for North American distribution and that is what initially caught my interest in this film, I mean, how good could a film based on a recursive hallway horror game actually be?

The answer? Surprisingly good. Is this the perfect horror film? No. Are the themes and allegories perfectly done? No. Does this potentially have some of the best framing and tracking shots that I’ve seen, considering it takes place (mostly) in a single hallway? Yes. This film is an absolute feast for the eyes (outside of a few wonky CGI effects that considering the budget is understandable[6.3 million USD]).

Exit 8, directed by Genki Kawamura (this is his second feature film) and starring, Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima, Tekkonkinkreet), Yamato Kochi, Nana Komatsu (Silence), Naru Asanuma (first full feature). Is a story about a man, Ninomiya, being trapped in an infinitely recursive hallway being tasked with finding the little things different in each iteration with failure being starting from the beginning. This simple concept, allows the viewer to “play along” as the rules are clearly presented and you also have the ‘reference’ hallway and there are a lot of fun variations that happen throughout the runtime of this movie.

This story is simple, because it takes place mostly in a single hallway and is based on a 20 minute horror game so I won’t get into the few twists that it actually gives you, but, considering there is no real ‘source material’ on what the character is going through before you entered the hallway in the game, they do a lot of heavy lifting on why this man has been chosen to be the next victim of the endless hallway. Not all of the themes are perfectly well done but there are some geniuenly great moments, espeically between Ninomiya and Asanuma.

Now the cinematography in this movie is incredible. There are some surprisingly fun and well done tracking shots considering the money they had to do it either has a lot of hidden cuts or, an incredibly long soundstage with the different variations of the hallway, I’d personally love for Neon to do a physical release of this soon (non-criterion) talking about the actual production of the film, because I would really enjoy a behind the scenes on how they achieved a lot of the shots. Some examples include, when the movie opens with a 5-10 minute long, point of view shot which includes the character looking into a reflection of himself, this follows him up into the ‘liminal space’ and a couple of laps of the space. This film really does like focusing on the long takes and the ‘laps’ of the individual hallways which makes it more interesting and tense than just constantly cutting.

This movie has the potential of being an excellent double feature with A24’s The Backrooms and has also made the level that the movie has to reach much, much higher, not really for the scares or horror, but for what kind of themes that they will try to implement as horror is (and always should be) a meditation on looking inward at yourself.

Overall this is a great film. A little wonky? Yes. But still great. It’s worth a watch on a big screen, with an active audience.

Rating: 3.5/5, still go see it.