Starring Kazunari Ninomiya, Yamato Kochi

Directed by Genki Kawamura

Story Inc / Toho – in Cinemas from 23rd April

A young man becomes desperate when his subway station turns into an endless labyrinth and he has to work out how to extricate himself from an ever deepening nightmare.

At the risk of over-sharing, I actually have a recurring anxiety dream that I am lost somewhere deep in the London Underground, going round in circles, unable to find the platform I need to get home. Depending on how stressed I am, it can turn into a full blown nightmare and I wake up utterly exhausted. Although anyone who has changed trains from the Northern Line to the new Elizabeth Line may well have had a similar feeling in real life.

Consequently, Japanese horror Exit 8 had me at the trailer. On the down side it could be argued that the full 95 minute movie doesn’t add a lot more, but that would be unfair to director Genki Kawamura who helms a potentially confusing narrative with sure-footed clarity.

The question I found myself asking, however, was whether this really was a horror movie at all. For sure there are some effectively chilling moments, especially when ‘The Lost Man’ (Kazunari Ninomiya) encounters the eerily smiling ‘Walking Man’ (Yamato Kochi), but in genre terms Exit 8 is more of a time loop parable along the lines of Groundhog Day where our hero has to look deep into himself in order to find a way forward. We get the idea pretty quickly, and the movie’s moral message is schematically, even simplistically unpacked with each new encounter.

Verdict: Despite all of this, Exit 8 is an immensely likeable film. The destination may be entirely predictable but the labyrinthine journey is absorbing enough, and while the message may be familiar, anyone flying the flag for care, tolerance and responsibility in 2026 gets a thumbs up from me. 7/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com