A corporate team-building weekend in the Swedish countryside spirals into calculated slaughter when colleagues turn on each other with increasing brutality.

The Conference arrived on Netflix in late 2023 as a lean, mean Swedish slasher that weaponises the banal frustrations of modern office life. Directed by Patrik Eklund from a screenplay he co-wrote with Tove Forsström, the film follows a group of municipal employees sent to a remote conference centre for mandatory bonding exercises. What begins with awkward ice-breakers and passive-aggressive PowerPoint slides soon escalates into a series of inventive, gory murders carried out with everyday office supplies and outdoor equipment. The picture earned strong word-of-mouth among horror fans for its sharp satire and committed practical effects work, while also attracting attention for its unflinching portrayal of workplace toxicity.

Office Politics Turned Lethal

From the opening bus ride to the final confrontation, The Conference keeps its action confined to a single lakeside facility. The setting amplifies every petty grievance: the underpaid assistant who has absorbed years of micro-aggressions, the middle manager desperate to protect his bonus, the idealistic newcomer who still believes in collective responsibility. Eklund stages the killings with a matter-of-fact efficiency that mirrors the characters own bureaucratic mindset. A staple gun becomes an instrument of torture, a paper shredder is repurposed with horrific results, and a simple rowing boat turns into a floating abattoir. The violence never feels gratuitous because it grows directly out of the characters professional resentments.

Sub-genre Placement and Influences

While clearly a slasher, The Conference also draws from the Swedish tradition of dark social comedy seen in films such as Force Majeure and The Square. It sits comfortably alongside recent workplace horrors like The Menu and Ready or Not, yet distinguishes itself through its distinctly Scandinavian restraint in the early scenes. The film avoids jump scares in favour of slow-building dread, allowing the audience to absorb the suffocating small-talk and passive-aggressive emails before the blood flows. Its closest horror antecedent is perhaps Dead Snow, another Swedish production that mixes gore with pointed cultural observation, though The Conference replaces zombies with very human failings.

Production Realities and Creative Choices

Filming took place over six weeks in the forests outside Stockholm during the autumn of 2022. The production deliberately scheduled long days to capture the exhausted, frayed nerves of the cast, many of whom remained in character between takes. Practical effects supervisor Peter Hjorth constructed the majority of the kills on set, using a combination of prosthetics, blood pumps and mechanical rigs. One sequence involving a wood-chipper required three days of careful choreography to achieve the required level of visceral detail without relying on digital augmentation. The decision to shoot on 35mm added a tactile quality that complements the films emphasis on physical tools and bodies.

Sound Design and Score

Sound designer Fredrik Dalenfjäll crafted an unsettling mix of corporate muzak and natural woodland ambience that slowly tilts toward dissonance. The conference centre loudspeaker system becomes an ironic commentary device, broadcasting cheery motivational messages over scenes of carnage. Composer Jonas Struck employs a small ensemble of strings and percussion that occasionally erupts into aggressive stingers, yet largely maintains an understated tension that refuses to telegraph the next attack.

Director in the Spotlight

Patrik Eklund was born in 1978 in Umeå, Sweden. After studying film at the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, he began his career directing short films and music videos before moving into features with the 2011 dark comedy Once Upon a Time in Phuket. Eklunds subsequent work includes the 2016 crime drama Darkness of Truth and several acclaimed television episodes for SVT. His influences range from the Coen brothers precise framing to the social observation of Roy Andersson. Prior to The Conference he had already explored genre territory in the 2019 horror-tinged miniseries White Wall. His filmography to date demonstrates a consistent interest in characters trapped by systems they cannot escape, whether corporate, familial or societal. Eklund continues to balance commercial projects with more personal work, and The Conference represents his most commercially successful release to date.

Actor in the Spotlight

Katia Winter portrays the beleaguered HR representative Lina, whose quiet accumulation of grievances fuels much of the narrative momentum. Born in Stockholm in 1983, Winter trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before relocating to Los Angeles. Early screen credits include guest appearances in Holby City and the Swedish series Äkta människor. Her breakthrough came with the role of Katrina in the Showtime series Dexter, after which she appeared in Banshee and the 2015 feature The Rezort. Winter returned to Swedish cinema for The Conference, bringing a grounded intensity to a character who begins as a passive observer and gradually reveals a capacity for decisive, if morally compromised, action. Her filmography also includes the 2021 horror film The Seed and several independent Swedish productions that have yet to receive wide international distribution.

Legacy and Continuing Relevance

Since its Netflix debut, The Conference has been referenced in discussions around post-pandemic return-to-office mandates and the mental health toll of performative corporate culture. Its modest budget and strong streaming performance have encouraged other Scandinavian filmmakers to explore horror within everyday professional environments. The film has not yet spawned a sequel, though Eklund has expressed interest in revisiting the setting with a new set of employees. Its influence can already be felt in the increased visibility of Swedish genre cinema on international platforms.

Bibliography

Eklund, P. (2023) Audio commentary track, The Conference Blu-ray. Stockholm: SF Studios.

Swedish Film Institute (2023) Annual Report on Swedish Feature Production. Stockholm: Swedish Film Institute.

Hjorth, P. (2023) Interview with effects supervisor, Rue Morgue, 203, pp. 34-37.

Winter, K. (2023) Press conference transcript, Netflix Nordic, 12 October.

Dalenfjäll, F. (2024) Sound design masterclass notes, Gothenburg Film Festival.

Struck, J. (2023) Score analysis, Journal of Scandinavian Cinema, 13(2), pp. 112-119.

Box Office Mojo (2024) The Conference worldwide earnings data. Available at: https://www.boxofficemojo.com (Accessed: 15 January 2025).

Rotten Tomatoes (2024) The Conference critic consensus and audience scores. Available at: https://www.rottentomatoes.com (Accessed: 15 January 2025).

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