Exit 8 – REVIEW

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The song ‘Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat’ by Fatboy Slim perfectly captures the relentless cycle of life, especially during wilder times like being a student. It’s a pattern many of us fall into, and struggle to break free from. The film ‘Exit 8‘ opens with a man – ‘The Lost Man’ – commuting on the subway, seemingly heading to the same job as the other identically dressed men around him, all wearing AirPods. His routine is shattered when he receives a call from his ex-girlfriend: she’s pregnant. He’s already left the train when he hears the news, walking through the sterile, empty station corridors. He passes a smiling man once, then again, and again, until he realizes he’s trapped in a repeating loop.

How to escape via Exit 8….

The poster on the wall tells him how to break free from the repeating cycle: he needs to find things that are out of place—like a flipped image or a door that shouldn’t be there—and go back when he sees them. If he does this correctly eight times, he’ll find Exit 8. However, his experience is just one of many. Others, like a man who always seems to be smiling (or ‘The Walking Man,’ as his story is known) and a lost little boy, are also stuck in the same endless loop.

I was completely captivated by this film, especially in the beginning! It’s based on a game, but it takes a simple idea and executes it with incredible skill. The director, Genki Kawamura, really knows how to build suspense – those slow, gliding camera shots reminded me so much of ‘The Shining’. He’s created some truly striking visuals, and honestly, I’m impressed he managed to stretch the game’s story into a full 95-minute movie, even if it loses a little steam towards the end. Still, it’s a fantastic adaptation and a visually stunning experience.

While the film’s use of Ravel’s Bolero might remind UK viewers of Torvill and Dean’s famous Olympic ice dance, there’s much more to it than just nostalgia. The number 8, visually resembling an inverted infinity symbol, creates a sense of repetition, suggesting we’re all trapped in a cycle of repeating the same day. Like a Moebius strip, the film is a rare video game adaptation that is both intellectually stimulating and well-made.

Here’s the Exit 8 trailer……

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2026-04-24 02:23