Exit 8: An Interesting Review

Recently(not knowing a movie was coming), I played a game. My wife had seen the trailer around the same day as me and it was fairly cheap on the Playstaytion Store. I was, as happens to many gamers, bored and looking for something new. The game was some sort of game based in a Japanese subway that played out like a puzzle game and a strange sort of horror I suppose. However, me and the wife could not pull our eyes away until I beat the game.

So what about the movie? Well my wife showed me the trailer for the movie within days of finishing the game and I honestly didn’t believe what I was seeing. I figured it was some sort of fan made trailer as it was perfect to the game. The strange story of the movie itself was of a man that suddenly found himself lost down a seemingly unending series of subway hall turns. There are rules to be able to leave this place, of course. If the main hall is identical in every way with no anomalies, continue forward. If an anomaly exists, no matter how small(or how crazy big) go back. If you follow the rules you go to the next level. If the character does not follow the rules he is reset to the beginning.

Now, the game was quite simple, but this is a full length movie and added something the game lacked… story. Said story manages to be simple enough to confuse none watching it, but complex enough to keep eyes glued to the big screen. It feels like a video game in the beginning, but truly earns its own individuality by telling us who the characters were and giving the movie depth. Was it frightening? Eh. I was at the edge of my seat through the whole movie hoping he would make it to Exit 8, but my Grams could watch this one and enjoy it. It’s never a bad movie, and definitely shows of how terribly unique it was. You are reminded from the very start that Japanese cinema is not Hollywood. For watching the movie I felt quite rewarded.