The Conference (2023) is a Swedish comedy horror that swims in a lake filled by the tributaries of Severance (2006) and Death Wish (1974 and 2018). It’s a film of two impulses, desire and wrath, a warning to greed, unfettered ambition will be checked by vengeance.
When an assortment of municipal workers, whose only connection is the office they share, retreat to a remote lakeside camp to finalise plans for a new shopping mall, it doesn’t take long for the cracks to show. As they suffer through some old fashioned team building exercises, one half of the group uncovers the corruption of the other, exposing a litany of false promises and dodgy deals, forged signatures and stolen farms.
But it’s not the threat of being found out or rule of law that puts pay to the venality, instead it’s the wrath of a local who metes out justice, seeks vengeance for this corruption by killing as many camp residents as possible.
Director Patrik Eklund does a good job of keeping the splatter gushing, as the mysterious murderer dons the mask from a Swedish charcoal burner costume, and sets about killing and maiming some really unlikable characters. There’s something funny about the oversized vinyl head, the mascot for the new mall, black eyes and permanent grin, chasing people through the forrest.
I’m not sure I’d watch it again, but it was fun while it lasted.
