Strange events plague a young man as he searches for the exit in an endless subway tunnel.
Director: Genki Kawamura
Cast: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yamato Kochi, Naru Asanuma, Kotone Hanase, Nana Komatsu
Release Date: April 10, 2026
Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rated PG-13 for some bloody images and terror.
Runtime: 1h 35m
Review:
Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8 is an effective example of liminal horror that makes the most of its labyrinthine, repetitive construction to deliver a foreboding sense of atmosphere that permeates its brisk runtime to deliver some solid thrills. Kawamura’s crafts a claustrophobic experience that feels eerily relatable to anyone who has wandered through any major city’s subway non-descript tunnels before turning it into a sort of purgatory that our “Lost Man” wanders through. The film is beautifully shot, giving the seemingly endless rotations through the same tunnels an appropriately disorienting feel. Once the rules of the game are laid out, the film turns into a game of finding the anomalies as we follow our nameless protagonist try and find his way out of his waking nightmare. Items and people that we’ve seen multiple times become more and more ominous with each progressive turn, setting up some well-timed shocks along the way. There are multiple shifts in perspective that keep everything from becoming overly repetitive, which also gives the audience a fair bit of context and backstory as to what is going on. The story has a clever overreaching theme that plays like a solid metaphor about modern life, fatherhood among other things with the film designed to be left open for interpretation. There are a few missteps here and there with the script as the “Lost Man” goes along with disturbingly odd situation far too easily initially and reacts far too slowly later on after he’s well aware of the danger’s anomalies portend. Kazunari Ninomiya is solid in the role which mainly has him reacting to the assorted insanity thrown at him, although the film does offer up a few moments to give his character a bit more emotional depth. The supporting cast played by Yamato Kochi, The Walking Man, Kotone Hanase, The High School Girl, and Naru Asanuma, The Boy, all deliver equally solid work with the latter two getting some memorable moments that’ll stick with you. Exit 8 proves to be a memorable experience that takes full advantage of it premise and is sure to sate those looking for more big screen liminal horror.
B
