When I saw that this is a Nordic horror, I pretty much knew it was going to be a comedy as well. The horror genre, even tho it is quite ok in that part of Europe, took the comedy route little by little, and I have to say, it now comes close to perfection. An incredible blend of comedy and kills, fast paced, quirky and overall fun, Konferensen is definitely a must see!

It manages to draw you in with an easy formula, excellent dialogue, great characters, the simplest of location - in the woods horror - but what great woods they got, a plot that reveals itself to be easily predictable yet nevertheless, fun!

The killer has a nice mask, which is always a bonus in these situations, his reasons are understandable yet see through, but the kills are very inventive. Lovely cut scenes between hunts and partying, kills and drinking, make this movie a lovely experience.

I overall knew from the start that I was going to enjoy it, thus I pressed Start with a few expectation, so I am very happy to say, I was not disappointed. This is why I am definitely going to recommend this to everyone, a movie that deserves a little recognition, because it's funny, fresh and well executed.

Cheers!

Yet another masked killer horror. What with the recent ok-ish Totally Killer, and the upcoming Eli Roth directed Thanksgiving, they seem to be all the rage . . . . again! The Conference takes the Totally Killer route with it being a comedy too, however the tone switch between comedy and horror is handled better here, and isn't as jarring. This is chock full of the usual horror tropes, with a group of people, some you hope survive, some you hope meet a grizzly end and of course when the killer strikes, the deaths are wonderfully gruesome. This is a fun Swedish horror that should rocket to the top of the Netflix Top 10 list.

Swedish take on the horror genre. Amusing, Charming. Nerdy. But with some excellent slasher scenes.

The bad; this movie takes some time to get going, the first 45 minutes it is just nothing else but an slightly amusing portrait of a group of municipal workers on a training session.

The good: the killing starts at about 45 minutes and from then on it is basically a full blown slasher movie, the Swedish way, with lots of aburd, dry humor the Swedish are good at.

All in all a reasonably nice slasher movie, for those who love this kind of Swedish dry, dark humor. Not recommended, but definitely still a fun watch.

Wow, the Swedes make some fun horror films! This is a slasher based at a work retreat, a conference, for a company no one would want to work for; complete with psychotic boss, his adoring female sidekick, sycophantic employee and all the subjugated employees expected.

The dubbing isn't great, but wasn't really an issue for me. The acting was decent, especially for a horror film. The killer was fun, although no great mystery.

The real fun was the banter between characters and the suppressed feelings that came out for some at the end. You could really feel the angst and peer pressure these kind of work dynamics bring out between colleagues.

The ending was satisfying and the action was well paced, somewhat brutal and even funny at times ( I almost feel guilty for saying brutal and funny in the same sentence, but doesn't that add something in a genre film?).

Overall a fun little film for those who like slashers. A nice addition to the genre.

The title refers to my home country across the bay. In Finland, the quality of films and series still varies to an unfortunate extent, and in many areas we seem to have difficulty in exploiting our own strengths. The Swedes, on the other hand, know how to make films of guaranteed quality in every genre.

I'm not a fan of this genre myself, but this film was quite entertaining. Great actors and the ability to laugh at the silly aspects of Swedishness as seen from Finland - of course, it seemed that the filmmakers also understood the silly aspects of Swedishness.

From a Finnish perspective, the characters were quite relatable and also the municipal politics. The film also touched on the pain points of Swedish society, but only very briefly. There was no real message, and I don't think anyone expects that from a film of this genre.

In the spirit of neighbourly love, it was implied that one of the main characters (Ingela) was of Finnish background. Ingela was, of course, a rather unpleasant person. En finne igen! Thanks for this, Sweden ;)

All in all, however, the film was a very traditional slasher film. I don't like this kind of movies. However, this was more entertaining than average in this genre.

Plot

A team-building conference for municipal employees turns into a nightmare when accusations of corruption begin to circulate and plague the work environment. At the same time, a mysterious figure begins murdering the participants.

Cast

Unfamiliar

Verdict

Slasher is a sub-genre I grew up with but honestly was never very enamored with. Give me monsters, zombies, vampires, something psychological but a person in a mask running around being all stabby stabby? Meh.

This Swedish stab at the genre has a couple of things going for it, the killer looks fantastic and the ensemble of characters is varied and much appreciated in a world of generic 20 something pretty people type films.

However, that's mostly it. The whole film is played very safe and doesn't bring much to the table you won't have seen a hundred times before.

It's not bad, but if you've watched many slashers you'll have pretty much seen this.

Rants

I recently watched one of the new Scream movies, you had characters stabbed 20+ times, people stabbed had the knife pulled up through their innards, people smashed in the head with bricks and then 5 4 3 2 1 they're up, running, fighting, chatting as if it never happened. Slasher shouldn't be a genre you can't take seriously and the modern king of slashers should be taking it more seriously. Absurd, laughable and as believable as Roadrunner vs Coyote in it's approach. Can't wait for an anvil to drop on a characters head in the next Scream movie and them to walk it off.

Breakdown

Great mix of characters Solid killer appearance.

Mediocre overall Instantly forgettable.

First the story line, A team of municipal employees go for a team outing in the name of competency building exercise, which ironically becomes one when a killer starts killing the team and the crew!

Not a comedy-horror :- I wasn't expecting too much horror as this movie was mentioned as a satirical-horror or a horror-comedy.

Pros & Cons :- + The movie takes a pretty intense horror tone without wasting much time, even as soon as the crew settles in.

+ There maybe some comedy elements, but this was a gripping, intense and a full length horror movie for me!

+ I also liked how certain characters with negative intention suffered gruesome deaths.

• I felt the killer got lucky to find most of his victims alone and vulnerable.

Overall, you would still enjoy this movie despite its minor flaws!

You're probably going to see 'The Conference' described as a comedy/horror. I'm not sure I would describe it that way. There are a lot of quirky characters doing some odd things but it never really felt like a film that was trying to make me laugh. The tone was pretty serious for the most part.

I'm a sucker for a masked killer. The mask here was good, although perhaps a little similar to the one in 'Happy Death Day'. The killer proves himself early on to not be playing around. He is out for blood and he will get it in some pretty violent and often creative fashion.

I think this is a film where the lower your expectations are, the better time you are going to have. Is it a horror masterpiece? No. Is it a reasonably fun time and a good film to watch on Friday the 13th (its release date)? Sure. There are some fun kills and some decent moments of tension here and there. 5.5/10.

If you have ever seen the movie Severance (2006), then you can prepare yourself for what you are about to see in this movie. It's a swedish slasher where a team-building conference in a camp in the woods turns into a bloodbath. Most characters are really extra and there is some fun humor involved. The characters have some differences, especially our main protagonist Lena and her ambitious douchebag colleague Jonas because off some corruption accusations. After some time one by one of the camp visitors gets brutally killed with some nice gore.

Now you could say it's just another slasher with a masked killer and yeah that's right, but I think the movie managed to entertain throughout its run time and had some memorable scenes. And because it's on Netflix you have easy access to watch it and I would recommend it. But still I think Severance (2006) is the superior movie because I absolutely love that one. [6,7/10]

I felt the Conference movie was very B grade. I felt there was a lot of unnecessary blabber throughout the whole film leading up to the killer starting to do his/her killing. Small twists throughout the film, which was very known to me anyway without having to think too hard to figure out what was going on.

It was very disappointing to know that the plot was very simple, it's been done before in previous films, nothing exciting or enticing about it at all.

There was not much of an ending either, nor a shock to whom it the killer was.

Unfortunately I found it to be a waste of my time watching this movie.

As far as slasher thrillers go, this one is surprisingly good. The kills and the fight scenes are well done and not repetitious, the killer is effective and fearsome but not almighty or perfect, the group consists of various interesting character types, some of them unlikeable, others quite likeable - like in real life. The killer has a real grudge against them and a solid reason to want a revenge. I also like that the victims dont act in a dumb or nonsensical way and some show guts, bravery and solidarity with one another. It's well directed, well paced and well written. I think it's certainly better than the last two Scream movies.

It was a bit too slow for my taste. The production quality and acting are all pretty solid and I also like the idea of a corporate team building going south with a lot of corporate tropes that anyone who ever worked in a corporation will recognize right away , and react probably with a smirk.

However, the whole story unveils very slowly and I lost interest somewhere in the second half of the movie despite the fact that the things just started picking up.

And lastly, the identity of the killer was pretty obvious to me as soon as the one crucial information is given to us. And while they tried to steer us in the wrong direction, I believe most people will see through that fake lead.

Overall, 6 stars is a fair rating.

I love slashers coming from other countries and not only from US or UK. So, consequently I am always up to watch a "new" one. This one coming from Sweden.

The Conference does not add anything new to the genre, instead it copies everything from other movies or series like Friday the 13th, Dexter or Severance. The mixture it does not really work here because of several reasons:

First, the characters and acting cast are extremely bland, d*mb and uninspiring. I was expecting to everyone die fast, lol.

Second, no script or story. Period. Just a bunch of events without any sense.

Last, I really enjoyed the scenarios and some gory scenes. But that's all folks.

Anyway, if you have watched similar slashers, avoid this one. It's a waste of time. Same old story trying to be ¿Fun?... If you want real fun, better go to IKEA, eat some Swedish meatballs and choose another good slasher with an interesting story. Like Nightmare on Elm Street, for example. Enjoy.

Ever noticed how, in horror films, co-workers are always portrayed as loathsome and egocentric people that passionately hate each other? And especially when they're away on a retreat or team-building activity together? I think screenwriters do this deliberately to show "ordinary" people who work in offices and watch horror movies to relax - like me - that we don't have to complain about our own colleagues, after all.

The Swedish "Konferensen" is very similar to the British "Severance". In both films, fellow office workers, who can't stand each other, are taken out of their comfort zones to participate, very much against their will, in forced team-building activities somewhere in a remote location. The films also have in common they are both very light-hearted slashers without too much significance, but very entertaining, nevertheless.

In "Konferensen" we have the administrative employees and project-developers of a rural municipality who are obliged to spend a few days in a sort of boot camp, and at the same time celebrate their great recent achievement; - namely the building of a large shopping center on the grounds where a large, expropriated farm used to be. Lina, who has been absent for a few months due to a burnout, discovers that the over-ambitious Jonas has been falsifying permits and cheating landowners. There is also talk of leases for the new shopping center that don't seem to exist, such as IKEA. Can you imagine a shopping zone in Sweden without an IKEA?

When referring to farmers who were forcibly expropriated, you also know that you don't have to guess long for the identity of the bloodthirsty killer who soon starts butchering the participants one by one, whilst putting on the idiotic mask of the project mascot. It is also not the intention or ambition of writer/director Patrik Eklund to bring forward an original and incredibly intelligent horror film. He clearly just had a pitch-black comedy with a lot of blood, creative kills, and a bit of suspense in mind. He succeeds with "Konferensen".

It doesn't deliver what one expects.

When you make a film that combines such disparate genres as horror and comedy it is normal to fall short in one of them, well, in the case of The Conference it falls short in both. There is neither horror nor humor. What we are left with is a film that at times takes itself too little seriously, and at times takes itself too seriously, leaving the viewer orphaned as to what to appreciate or not.

The beautiful landscapes and some violent deaths stand out.

The cast is very uneven, as is the script.

I hope the book it's based on is better and at least makes us smile a little if nothing else.

This movie from Northern Europe reminds me the slashers from the seventies! HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH...And it is fun and bloody, efficient and never boring. Not that funny however and some things remained unexplained to me. But I appreciated this horror film purchased on Netflix. The bodycount is the main interest, no matter the characters. Yes, a good little slasher yarn. It is not too long but I would have prefered it a bit shorter. I had not seen such a slasher since a long time and it was a bit refreshing. It changes from BLAIR WITCH PROJECT rip-offs or other CONJURING like movies. Good stuff.

The municipal workers responsible for green-lighting a new mall arrive at a 'holiday village' for a conference, where they find themselves fighting for their lives against a brutal killer.

The characters in The Conference are bloody irritating - deliberately so - which makes it all the more satisfying when the killing begins. It takes a fair while to get to the good stuff, by which time you'll be aching to see the work colleagues get butchered.

The death scenes are suitably bloody, with the killer using machete, outboard motor, sickle, electric drill and booby-trapped zip-wire, but at the end of the day, when all is said and done, this is nothing more than a routine slasher (albeit with tongue-in-cheek), the only thing distinguishing it from numerous other films of the same ilk being the fact that it is Swedish.

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for the stitching up of Jonas's scalp, which is pretty nasty.

The plot twists are a bit disappointing. The characters are not really introduced in depth. I don't think i remember half of the characters names. Kill scenes are also disappointing, i was more laughing at them then being scared, becouse they were just done in such a way you cant really take them seriously. I see that there was a concept there. I think if we would have introduced the characters more and gone more into the eerie and bizare behavior then into a disappointing slasher, this could have been really good. Like i would like to see the whole company concept/character interactions develop more so we actually had a better idea why some stuff was happening and what it all meant.

A municipal office goes on a corporate retreat, or conference, to do some competence development. But it all goes wrong quickly.

It is a solid movie, in line with flicks like House of Wax or Wrong Turn. In terms of storytelling, it is even closer to movies like Friday the 13th, but very much tongue in cheek. The characters are well developed, with a simple yet effective storyline. It does not try and be more than what it is. It is a weirdly comedic slasher movie. Scenery is great, acting is on point, and the dialogue is sharp and engaging. It is a really enjoyable 100 minutes. It has fun with itself, and gives what it promises.

"Konferensen" is based on the popular book with the same name and after watching the movie i can't understand how this could be a book, unless they've left out pretty much everything.

The story is as thin as every other slasher movie: people get killed and the killer have a reason.

As a Swede i'm very familiar with Swedish cinema. There was a time when we were great at making comedies. We had great actors who created memorable characters who delivered one funny classic phrase after another in a funny way. But everything with "Konferensen" is just flat.

The movie starts off with a promising funny vibe with typical awkward Swedes, but that doesn't last. What passes as "funny" are Swedes saying quotes and known phrases incorrectly in bad English and older people screaming profanities and just repeating this over and over.

And the horror aspect of the movie isn't that much better. If you're making a movie like this, you better bring the A-game when it comes to the execution of the killings. But even there they decided to go lazy and uncreative, rather shying away from showing too much gore and mostly settling for off screen killings and showing blood splatter. And what we got to see was poorly executed and edited.

So if it's excruciatingly unfunny and doesn't have any well made and creative killings, what's left? Not much.

The positive things about this movie is Adam Lundgren who plays the intense and creepy "Jonas" and the fact that it's positively off-kilter and non American in it's execution. But the rest is and are totally forgettable and bland. And again i question why some people make movies. Swedish horror movies are very rare and if you get the opportunity and the finances to do one, you should do better than this. You should have a note book filled with funny jokes and creative executions. But instead it feels like people just doing their job to show a result.

"The Conference" is a movie that takes place in the woods where a group of people go on a conference. The movie starts off as a typical corporate drama, but things quickly take a turn and it becomes a slasher.

The movie features some really good actors and good scenography. The music is well fitted and the style of the movie becomes a mix between dark comedy and a movie by Lars Molin. Kind of two movies in the same package.

The plot is well-crafted, even if the "twist" was a bit easy, and the characters are well-developed.

The director, Patrick Eklund, does an excellent job of building atmosphere throughout the movie. The cinematography is also impressive.

Overall, I would give "The Conference" an 8 out of 10. It's definitely worth watching if you're a fan of horror movies.

It was on top ten list in my country and I watched it but I can say it is really absurd and meaningless. First of all I really don't like when some people dies without a reason, no need to blood party but unfortunately this genre is like that. Anyway at least this time, everybody not died. There were some funny elements in it. Probably this will be a movie I don't remember anything in a year and after that, I will watch another story like this and I will say 'oh this is so familiar, I watched that before' anyway, for killing time you can watch but it will not give you anything particular or special.

As a swede who's grown up on Swedish film and tv show you always get impressed when something actually good gets released! (A part from a few amazing Swedish movies)

Great cast, fun and creative slash and even funnier transitions between scenes! This is an impressive slasher movie. While not the best compared to other slashers, I definitely think this one is deserved a watch and good ratings.

My biggest "issue" with is the characters. While I understand this is not a that serious film I still would've liked to see some more depth. Minus one death that happens I really didn't care if they died, especially since many of their personalities wasn't that great. But that's just a personal preference and I see that the vision just was a fun slasher. While I still believe you can have fun slasher with depth it's not that big of a problem, and I'm okay with not being like that.

Other than that? Great movie! I hope Swedish films will follow this route and that in the future we will get films that's even greater!