Program Note
College students Shiori, Keita, and Maho visit an apartment complex on the outskirts of the city that is rumored to be haunted, out of curiosity. What they thought was an abandoned ruin turns out to be inhabited, so they decided to stay and conduct their own investigation. Along the way, they witness bizarre psychic phenomena and sudden death, which can only be attributed to ghosts.
Japanese cinema has its unique genre tradition of horror. The space is limited, and the characters in it are doomed to encounter ominous surreal phenomena or entities. Bldg N. represents a trend in contemporary Japanese horror, often inspired by urban legends. Based on a true story that took place in an apartment complex in Gifu Prefecture in 2000, the film features the sloppy, rough edges of a B-movie in many places, and while following the conventions of the genre, it also attempts to reveal its own auteurism, reflecting the socio-political reality of a dying neighborhood and the subtle evidence of nihilism and collectivism that permeates Japanese society. (CHO Jaewhee)