- Directed by: Genki Kawamura
- Written by: Kotake Create, Kentaro Hirase, Genki Kawamura
- Stars: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yamato Kochi, Naru Asanuma
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 35 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emZZexEJO8c
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A becomes trapped in an endless subway station and has to complete a mission to escape. Kind of like a video game, which this movie is based on. We are both in agreement that it’s a cool idea and very well made. We are split opinion though, with Brian finding it too repetitious, and Kevin finding it just about right.
Spoilery Synopsis
A man scrolls through his phone on a crowded train. A businessman yells at a crying baby, which is sure to help. It’s all pretty unpleasant, so he cranks up the music in his earbuds. The man’s girlfriend calls and asks where he is. She’s pregnant and wants him to come to the hospital. Our guy starts coughing uncontrollably and uses his inhaler.
He’s in the subway tunnels, so his cell signal isn’t very good. He approaches Exit 8, the way out. Suddenly, he’s alone; all the people are gone. He passes one man walking– twice. Did he just walk in a circle? No, he’s very clearly not going in a circle, and then he passes that man again. About the fifth time passing, the strange man stops and smiles maniacally. It soon becomes clear that something weird is going on.
The Lost Man
The Lost Man notices a poster for an “Escher exhibition,” with one of those famous impossible loops on it. Suddenly, the poster drips blood. He finds a sign about finding anomalies and turning back. “Do not overlook any anomalies.”
The man starts taking photos of everything to compare for anomalies, but the photos in the phone get corrupted. The smiling man, however, clearly isn’t normal. He passes the sign for Exit 1 and then Exit 2, so he must be doing it right. He passes the photo booth and lockers we’ve seen before, but this time, he hears a baby crying inside one of the lockers. No– all the lockers have babies, which could indicate an anomaly.
He spots the eyes of people in posters following him, and then makes it to Exit 4 and then 5. Progress! His girlfriend calls again, wanting to know where he is. He tells her he can’t get out, walking in circles, and she laughs at him. She can’t decide what to do about the baby, after all, the two broke up not long ago. He doesn’t see her right there in the tunnel with him, and he’s now back at Exit 0, needing to start all over again. He finds a little boy in the tunnel, but he might not be an anomaly.
The Walking Man
We cut to the Walking Man’s point of view, and he’s lost as well. He’s made it up to Exit 4. He also counts the posters, lockers, and photo booth. He, however, passes a girl in the hallway and walks with the little boy. The girl asks to join them on their search for the way out. She wonders if they’re dead and in Hell. She gets creepy fast, He turns back and hits Exit 6. He misses a weird doorknob and goes back to zero.
No– he sees the stairway to Exit 8 and runs to it. The little boy with him refuses to go up there. The man runs up the stairs, and the little boy goes back into the maze. He then runs into the Lost Man, and we’ve seen this part before.
The Boy
The boy follows the lost man through the maze of tunnels. This time the man notices the odd doorknob and turns back. Then he sees some real horror weirdness and freaks out. The boy sees his mother, but it’s also the Lost Man’s pregnant girlfriend.
They’ve made it up to 5 and this time one of the side doors is open. They look inside and the lost man sees himself in the distance from earlier when he was riding the subway listening to music. That’s an obvious anomaly, so they turn back and they’ve made it to 6.
Suddenly, the Silent Hill siren goes off. The tunnel violently fills with water. And then the lost man is on the beach with his girl and the boy, who is their boy. She talks about deciding the right thing to do. Then he and the boy are back in the tunnel, and the lost man saves him by putting him up on top of the ceiling sign before he is swept away himself. The boy wakes on the floor in the corridor now filled with what looks like the aftermath of a tidal wave. He goes back, and he has made it to 7. He goes forward through his 8th, and the lost man comes through a moment later for his 8th pass – no anomalies. And he comes to the stairs down for exit 8.
Eventually, he finds the exit, and he’s back in the normal subway. He buys a water from the vending machine, puts his earbuds back in, and calls his girlfriend. She’s still at the hospital and asks “What are we going to do?” He gets on the train, and we see the same routine as in the opening sequence with the man screaming at the baby. Our guy, who was ashamed at not intervening the first time, still does nothing– or does he? Will it all be different this time?
Brian’s Commentary
This one is all about paying attention to the visual cues and trying to find the anomalies before the characters do. But oh boy, did that middle section drag and drag and drag.
It was a very cool concept, and it was very well produced, but it was a bit too repetitive, which, unfortunately, was the entire point of the film.
Kevin’s Commentary
Some of the anomalies are obvious and some are pretty subtle. If the maze really wanted to be a jerk about it, something super subtle like the number of rows of tiles could change.
I thought it was great. I didn’t find it too repetitious, as Brian and some reviewers have. I thought it was just about right. It was a good time, and I’d recommend it.
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