20 Hit Horror Movies NOBODY Saw Coming

3. Exit 8

Even accepting the viral popularity of 2023's horror puzzle game The Exit 8, last year's movie adaptation had a relatively low-profile release as films based on video games go.

As such, expectations weren't high for it, even with a budget reported to be less than $5 million, yet Exit 8 managed to ride the wave of rapturous festival reviews and enjoy a barnstorming box office run in its native Japan, where it grossed $32.5 million alone.

A subsequent international rollout added more to that figure, with the film finally topping out at $43.9 million - roughly 10 times its budget.

For a movie even many fans of the video game had no idea was coming out, and whose international release took place many months after its Japanese debut, that's one hell of a performance.

As such, don't be too shocked if we see more viral indie horror games getting their own low-budget film adaptations in the near-future.