The Conference (Swedish: Konferensen) is a 2023 Swedish slasher film directed by Patrik Eklund and co-written with Thomas Moldestad based on the 2021 novel Konferensen by Mats Strandberg and starring Katia Winter, Adam Lundgren and Eva Melander. It premiered on Netflix in October 13, 2023.
Contents
Plot
A team-building conference for municipal employees turns into a nightmare when elements of corruption begins to undermine and plague the retreat with a scorned man out to avenge the suicide of his father over a real estate scam entailing the construction of a non-utilitarian retail mall in a farming community.
Cast
Katia Winter as Lina
Adam Lundgren as Jonas
Eva Melander as Eva
Bahar Pars as Nadja
Amed Bozan as Amir
Maria Sid as Ingela
Christoffer Nordenrot as Kaj
Claes Hartelius as Torbjörn
Cecilia Nilsson as Anette
Lola Zackow as Jenny
Jimmy Lindström as Karl
Martin Lagos as Roger
Marie Agerhäll as Cleo
Robert Follin as Sotis
Margareta Pettersson (voice actor)
Production
The screenplay was co-written by the director Patrik Eklund and Thomas Moldestad, based on the 2021 novel Konferensen by Mats Strandberg. A Netflix original film, it was produced by Ina Sohlberg for SF Studios. The crew also featured Guldbagge-winning Tove Jansson, Eva von Bahr and Love Larson as make-up artists, Ingrid Sjögren as costume designer, and Tim King and Jonathan Ridings as executive producers alongside Mats Strandberg, with Jimm Garbis as associate producer.
Most of the film was shot in Stockholm and its surrounding areas. In fact, the Mälaren lake is thought to be one of the shooting locations of Conference.
Release
The Conference premiered globally on Netflix in October 13, 2023. It released during pre-Halloween season.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 74% of 19 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10.
Alexander Kardelo of MovieZine rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, deeming it a "brutally entertaining slasher comedy" and writing that "[it] offers its audience an intense nightmare experience that tickles the chest to death".
Karolina Fjellborg of Aftonbladet rated it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "a festive, fresh breath of a slasher film, which combines some of the genre's most classic approaches with very Swedish characters, in a very Swedish context".
Mrinal Rajaram of Cinema Express rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, reckoning it is "based on an interesting premise" and "[brims] with potential" at first, but "loses a bit of itself in the slasher cliches", resulting in "the expectation [turning] soon to disappointment and [settling] eventually on boredom".
Emiliano Basile of EscribiendoCine rated it with 6 out of 10 points, stating that "Patrick Eklund makes a social satire-like slasher comedy that's shamelessly gore and a fun reflection on humans' incredible capacity to resist".