A scene from 'Exit 8'

Exit 8 review: TIFF 2025

‘Exit 8’ adapts a minimalist video game for the big screen, creating an emotionally complex narrative for the main player.

A young man (Arashi star Kazunari “Nino” Ninomiya) heading to work receives a call from his ex-girlfriend. She’s pregnant. He reluctantly agrees to meet her at the hospital, but suddenly can’t find his way out of the subway. Soon, he realizes he’s passing the same corridors and the same man over and over again. He then notices a sign that outlines the rules of the quandary he’s in. There are only three directions:

  1. Find an anomaly, turn around immediately.
  2. No anomaly, keep moving forward.
  3. Keep making the right choices to reach Exit 8.

The film is based on a first-person walking simulator game of the same name. It does an excellent job replicating the source’s setting and play. The base location consists of tiled hallways that could reasonably be any transit underground passage.

Read the full review of Exit 8 at thatshelf.com

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