Exit 8 Review: This Creepy Liminal Horror Movie Keeps Going In Circles

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Liminal space horror (scary stories set in sparse hallways and abandoned-looking locations that invoke a mixture of both nostalgia and dread) is having a moment. The excellent recent trailer for "Backrooms," inspired by a series of viral videos, has garnered plenty of attention, and the podcast-based fright flick "Undertone" could arguably fit into the category of liminal horror. Now we have "Exit 8," adapted from the walking simulator video game "The Exit 8" and loaded with all sorts of liminal dread. Directed by Genki Kawamura, this Japanese horror movie is quite good at getting under your skin. But the repetitive nature of the scenario begins to bog things down, to the point where you might grow annoyed at the inherent tedium.

Still, there's an overwhelming feeling of dread here that (mostly) gets the job done. And what's more hellish then retracing the same steps over and over again, hoping for a different outcome that may never arrive? Opening with a lengthy POV sequence (one that I confess I thought was going to last the entire film, reminiscent of the gonzo action pic "Hardcore Henry" or the highly underrated "Nickel Boys"), "Exit 8" introduces us to a nameless character known only as The Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya). Riding a subway train, he watches silently as another passenger rudely shouts at the mother of a crying infant.

Stepping off the train and into the subway station, The Lost Man receives a phone call from his girlfriend (Nana Komatsu) with shocking news: she's pregnant. Is The Lost Man ready to be a father? Her certainly doesn't think so, but before he can really worry about that, he finds himself trapped in an Escherian nightmare, forced to loop through the same empty corridor over and over again. Just like a video game, there are rules — which are handily spelled out via a sign hanging on the wall. If The Lost Man spots an "anomaly" — something that seems either slightly or extremely off-kilter — he has to immediately turn around and start again. If he does so, he'll be given the chance to escape via exit 8 ... eventually. If he fails to restart because of an anomaly, he'll seemingly be forced to repeat the same path over and over again until death or madness takes him.

Exit 8 feels like a video game (and that's not such a good thing)

"Exit 8" is primarily focused on The Lost Man, using his fears of fatherhood to influence the horrors he experiences underground, but the narrative also shifts perspective from time to time. As The Lost Man keeps looping around the same space, he encounters a grinning weirdo dubbed The Walking Man (Yamato Kochi), and we eventually learn more about this character and his own predicament. There's also a silent child, The Boy (Naru Asanuma), and a vaguely threatening teenage girl (Kotone Hanase) thrown in for good measure.

I've never played "The Exit 8" video game, but I can only assume this film adaptation is faithful because it feels like a video game. The main character must follow a step path and complete a series of tasks. If he screws up, he has to restart — or respawn, to use video game parlance — and do it all over again. I'm sure this works like gangbusters in video game form, especially because I've read that if you pay close attention and play the game right, you can likely wrap things up in about a half-hour. As a feature-length film, however, the going-in-circles nature of "Exit 8" can start to feel monotonous.

Keisuke Imamura's cinematography, making great use of that sterile, quietly unsettling corridor, creates just the right amount of dread. There's a claustrophobic feeling to the entire film that really gives one the sense of being trapped underground somewhere. And bursts of horror in the form of images moving on posters, unseen babies crying, blood dripping from the walls, and some nasty vermin all enhance the overall bad vibes of the film.

Exit 8 has great creepy vibes, but that only gets you so far

But vibes will only get you so far, and the on-the-nose metaphors for fatherhood fears coupled with a maddening sense that The Lost Man is a little too slow to catch on to certain things bogs things down. Even after it's well-established what the consequences will be, The Lost Man keeps hanging around to talk about anomalies instead of turning tail and starting over. 

I suppose you could argue this is intentional to showcase the poor decisions people frequently make in their everyday lives, and the little private traps we all build for ourselves by repeating self-destructive behavior out of force of habit. But that doesn't make it any less tedious to watch.

Ultimately, your enjoyment of "Exit 8" will hinge on how much repetitiveness you're willing to tolerate. Liminal space horror fans will likely enjoy the film's moody aesthetic, and there are times where "Exit 8" feels like a movie to be digested via spooky gifs and screenshots. "Exit 8" may very well give you the creeps, but that might not be enough.

/Film Rating: 5.5 out of 10

"Exit 8" opens in theaters on April 10, 2026.