The Exit 8 is a psychological, liminal horror indie game where you play as someone trapped in an infinite, repeating corridor. Today, Vertigo Releasing debuts a brand new film adaptation of the game in cinemas across the UK and so it’s time we take a deep dive into differences between the film and the source material.
To survive and escape in the Exit 8 game you must follow a strict set of rules:
- Don’t overlook any anomalies.
- If you find anomalies, turn back immediately.
- If you don’t find anomalies, do not turn back.
- Go out via Exit 8.
The game, at its core, is nice and simple, and the film perfectly captures that essence. However, it did leave out some of the more creepy and horrendous anomalies, which I’ll go into detail about below. (For my full review of the film, you can check that out here!)
First, we have one of the main characters in both the game and the film: The Walking Man. In the film, we only really see two major moments from him, including him following the main character and his awkward, forced smile. What the film does differently, however, is show him from before he was part of the loop, revealing that he was also a victim. The game never goes into detail regarding the characters, but the film utilizes that blank slate to create a backstory for both the protagonist and the Walking Man.
A few anomalies involving the Walking Man that would have been great to see in the movie include his size changing—where you enter the corridor and he is suddenly 7–8 feet tall—or the times his face is missing entirely, which is always unsettling to witness for the first time. Beyond those scares, the Walking Man quickly becomes a source of relief in the game when you realize that, at least in “this” run, he is normal.
Next up are the posters and subway signs. The film captured most of these since they are fairly simple to pull off. It even included the creepiest one: the eyes that follow you as you walk past. Though the film did leave out a glaring anomaly where a poster changes entirely into a distorted horror face—but maybe that was just too obvious?
Then we have the three doors on the right-hand side of the corridor. The film copies the detail of the door handles being moved to the centre of the door, but it avoids one of my favourite anomalies: the slightly open door with someone peeking through. It took me a moment to spot the person as I approached, and it made my heart skip a beat when I finally saw the face. The absence of this in the film made me realize it was avoiding the big jump scares of the game in favour of more straightforward fears. The film also shows one of the doors opening, and I will advise anyone who plays the game… do not go into that door!
As for the floors and lights, there isn’t much to be said. Early on in the film, you notice the lights are off in one walkthrough, but the game has more horror-focused anomalies. For instance, you can find distorted faces on the floor or ceiling tiles which, when you see them for the first time, are quite horrible.
Finally, let’s look into the actual “threat” anomalies that the film chose to leave out entirely. First, there are the two businessmen. Just two dudes in suits standing around the midway point instead of your usual walking stranger. Nodding to the classic psychological horror The Shining, it’s just all kinds of obvious creepy.
Similar to another scene in The Shining, as you progress down the corridor, you sometimes see a pool of red blood start to flood through the exit. While the film has a similar scenario, it’s more like floor water with debris than the suggested blood from the game.
Then we have one of the biggest jumpscare moments: the Hidden Man. He appears in two positions but is always at the end of the corridor, standing against the wall and blending in with a white body and black lines. As soon as you get close enough, he gives chase to you. I was disappointed we never got to see this in the film, as it’s one of the best scares in the game.
The film does actually create a small handful of new anomaly’s though, with the inclusion of lockers and a photobooth around the main corridor which is not present in the game.
We also get the crying baby in these lockers and horror more focused on the main characters present struggles which we hear in the opening of the film when he was on the phone with his girlfriend.
The previously mentioned flooding anomaly too is unique to the film and felt like an reference to the shared trauma of the 2011 floods of Japan.
Ultimately, though, the Exit 8 film was a brilliant adaptation of the source material. It made some notable changes, such as giving the characters a plot, and the recreation of the corridor was almost a 1:1 match. For players like myself, mixing in the child added a fresh layer to what could have been just an empty, jumpscare-heavy short film.
Did I miss anything? What was your favorite anomaly in the game, and what do you wish they had included in the film? Shout off in the comments!
