‘Unpleasant experiences in daily life’ are emerging as a ‘key topic’ in Korean movies.Among them, ‘noise between floors’, which is a common problem in apartments, a representative form of multi-family housing, is ‘rising’ as a major subject matter in recent thriller and horror genres.

The horror film ‘Noise’ currently showing, starring Lee Sun-bin, is a good example.’Noise’, which tells the story of a sister struggling to find her missing sister in an apartment with extreme noise between floors, has attracted 1,183,687 cumulative viewers as of the 13th, becoming the 6th film to surpass 1 million viewers this year.It is also the 6th film to break even this year, following ‘Opposition Party’, ‘Hitman 2’, ‘The Nuns’, ‘The Match’, ‘Secret That Cannot Be Told’, and ‘Shinmyeong’.

In particular, the film received favorable reviews for not only differentiating itself by featuring a hearing-impaired main character despite dealing primarily with noise, but also for amplifying the sense of fear with bizarre sounds.Regarding this, sound director Park Yong-gi stated, “We implemented a signature sound with meticulous sound design from the opening to the climax.”

Netflix’s film ‘84 Square Meters’, which will be released on the 18th, is expected to continue the eerie interest in ‘noise between floors’ that ‘Noise’ has ignited.The film depicts the story of a young man who succeeds in purchasing his own home in an apartment but suffers from unidentifiable noise between floors, and the psychological changes of the main character due to noise between floors melts into the housing reality and anxiety of the youth generation in their 2030s.

Director Kim Tae-joon said, “80% of housing in Korea is multi-family housing, and 80% of those are apartments.This means that most people in our country have experienced noise between floors or are in an environment where they could experience it,” and explained that, “In this context, noise between floors is a topic that can create a sense of timeliness and empathy.”

As noise between floors is used as a device to ‘project’ the psychology of modern people beyond the inconvenience of daily life, it is actively used in various genres other than horror or thriller.The movie ‘Baeksu Apartment’ starring Kyung Soo-jin, released in February, comically tells the story of a neighborhood unemployed person who sets out to find out the cause of noise between floors, and ‘People Upstairs’ directed by actor Ha Jung-woo, which will be released next year, depicts conflicts between neighbors caused by noise between floors in the form of a ‘compete drama’.



Reporter Seungmi smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.