Exit 8 (Japan, 2025)
Official Synopsis
Based on the hit video game, this eerie fright-fest follows a lost commuter trapped in a seemingly repetitious corridor in the bowels of a Japanese subway station. Desperate to escape, he is forced to look for breaks in the pattern that is confining him.
Review
Liminal space horror is practically its own subgenre — my favorite example being Isaac Ezban’s The Incident (El Incidente; Mexico, 2014) — and the claustrophobic eeriness that plays a large part in some of the subgenre’s offerings abounds in director Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8.
Kazunari Ninomiya gives a fine performance as the Lost Man, who receives a call from his ex-girlfriend (Nana Komatsu) informing him that she’s pregnant and wants to know what he wants to do about it. Indecisive, he tells her he will meet her at the hospital. Unbenknownst to him at the time of their call, however, is that he will find himself trapped in the corridors of the subway station where he is currently located, where he encounters a Walking Man (Yamato Kochi) and a young boy (Naru Asanuma) who are also trying to escape.
If the initial build-up seems repetitive, stick with the film because Kawamura — working from a screenplay that he cowrote with Katake Create and Kentaro Hirase — has several surprises in store that greatly expand the scope and breadth of the proceedings. The special effects for these heightened set pieces look great, as the story blends the existential with the surreal.
Our featured image from Exit 8 is courtesy of Neon. The film was released in theaters on April 10,2026.
The Holy Boy (Italy, 2025)
Official Synopsis
Deep in the Italian mountains lives a village of some of the happiest people on earth. Their serenity is about to be broken by the arrival of the new PE teacher who is haunted by his past and determined to uncover the secret of how all of the townspeople are healed weekly by the touch of a 15-year-old boy with special powers.
Review
Director Paoli Strippoli’s The Holy Boy is a solid and rather unique offering in the religious horror subgenre. Michele Riondino as new-in-town troubled substitute PE teacher Sergio and Giulio Feltri as shy 15-year-old high school student Matteo give gripping performances as they head up a terrific, sizable cast. After Matteo has a drunken rage at a bar, bartender Michela (Romana Maggiora Vergano) brings him to a gathering where locals hug Matteo and receive freedom from feeling grief and other forms of sadness.
This being a horror film, naturally there is a price to pay for burdening Matteo with the troubles of an entire town. Strippoli, working from a screenplay cowritten with Jacopo Del Giudice and Milo Tissone, serves up a slow build that allows viewers to understand well the mechanics of the isolated Italian town and its residents’ dependence on Matteo. The director then delivers a third act filled with surprises and shocks.
The drama in The Holy Boy is as highly effective as the horror elements. Wonderfully crafted and boasting strong production values, it comes strongly recommended for aficionados of European fear fare and religious horror.
Exit 8 and The Holy Boy screened as part of The Overlook Film Festival, which ran April 9–12, 2026 in New Orleans.
