Summary
Climbing the corporate ladder has never been more cut-throat. This comedy-slasher film is a creepy, witty watch.
October is the time for all horror films to shine, and fortunately for the genre, it’s so vast that many films can get away with cheesy props, basic scripts, and tongue-in-cheek humor. If you’re looking for a film with gore and jump-scares then look no further than The Conference, a Swedish horror-mystery-comedy streaming on Netflix about a team-building conference gone very wrong.
Multiple employees’ standard working day turns into a nightmare when accusations of corruption begin to circulate and plague their working environment. Whilst this is happening, a mysterious figure begins murdering people, as mysterious figures tend to.
The Conference review and plot summary
The plot begins with less-than-enthusiastic team members visiting the site of a new building that residents are none too happy about except for the sycophantic staff at the retreat where the group is staying. We’re introduced to characters such as Jonas and Kaj, who are hyper-excited about this venture, and you get an instant feeling they’re going to die first. Their contrast is Lina, who is hard-faced, suspicious, and will more than likely be a lone survivor.
This film encapsulates corporate greed through horror and slapstick comedy. There are some stupidly funny moments, such as a waiter dropping all the cocktails, that if you blink you’ll miss. The comedy comes from the team-building exercises — we’ve got to admit these team-building days are everyone’s nightmare.
READ: Totally Killer Review
It’s an interesting concept that Lina has the threat of a killer and of an over-competitive coworker who’s willing to climb the corporate ladder by any means necessary. The slasher/murderer reflects the cut-throat corporate world.
The plot doesn’t wait long for the drama and creepy killings to begin — within the first 17 minutes, someone is hit, and slashed, building the mystery and fear for our little group. The mascot is genuinely freaky, and I would not want that running after me. A giant puppet-type costume with a wooden mask is enough to scare anyone.
Not as scary as the man under it, though.
The music is one of my favorite aspects of this film. The mixture of upbeat and jolly to intense screeching classical music has a strong impact on each scene and helps drive the emotion and narrative along. I appreciate the thought and effort that’s gone into this.
In one section worthy of a mention, someone is getting their head bashed in and as the killer goes to bop them, we cut to the popping of champagne and a perfect cork-pop noise — a darkly funny flourish.
Is The Conference a good horror-comedy film?
Overall this film has a nice mix of horror and slapstick humour. There are plenty of jump-scares and striking gore moments to fulfill an audience’s craving for adrenaline, and silly slap-stick stunts to allow a breath and sigh of relief.
Even though The Conference brings nothing all that new to the slasher sub-genre, it’s one of the better films that’s gone to Netflix recently, so definitely give it a watch.
What did you think of The Conference? Comment below.
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