Netflix And Chill: The Conference (2023)

I don't know why I didn't get around to watching The Conference sooner, considering the good word I heard about it from other horror movie fans, but I finally made time for it now. Do I consider it time well spent though? that's the question. I do, although I think it could have been a bit sharper.

What you should know about The Conference is that it is a darkly comedic slasher movie set at a remote hotel where a group of colleagues are to engage in a variety of team-building activities. That premise is ripe with potential for fun, pain, and murders, as anyone who has seen the excellent Severance will already know. There's also something fishy about the latest big deal that this team are due to celebrate, which leads to people throwing around a few accusations and choice curse words. Even worse, someone starts a killing spree. But who is the killer, and what is their motive?

Based on the 2021 novel, Konferensen (also the standard title of the movie in the original Swedish language), by Mats Strandberg, The Conference is co-written by Thomas Moldestad and director Patrik Eklund. Moldestad has worked well in this sub-genre before, having helped to shape the enjoyable Cold Prey trilogy, but I am completely unfamiliar with Eklund's filmography, although a quick browse shows that most of his projects have been mostly short-form work. Much like the aforementioned Cold Prey, this is happy to stay well within familiar boundaries, and it presents some enjoyable tension and decent kill scenes in a way that reminds you of how easy it should be to deliver such relatively simple pleasures to horror movie fans who don't need every slasher movie to comment on, and play with, every rule and trope that has been part and parcel of the sub-genre for decades.

Despite not giving them all quite enough time and space to make their impact, Eklund also helps his cast do enough to both work as one imperilled group and also individuals who may end up being a killer or a victim. Katia Winter and Adam Lundgren work very well as Lina and Jonas, respectively, the two most at loggerheads, and Maria Sid is wonderful as the team leader, Ingela. Eva Melander, Bahar Pars, Amed Bozan, Christoffer Nordenrot, Claes Hartelius, Cecilia Nilsson, and Jimmy Lindström all deserve a mention though, as do Lola Zackow and Marie Agerhäll, everyone convincingly engaging in their usual work duties until the bloodshed begins and the fear starts to flow through the group like a fast-developing fire.

There are weaknesses here though, and I should probably make note of them here before people start assuming that this is some unmissable and perfect creation. The attempts to give the killer some memorable iconography don't quite work, the red herrings thrown around aren't ever convincing, and the second half moves between some decent kills and a fairly banal explanation for the murderous rampage. There are also very few elements that truly stand out, one or two kills aside. The script could have been sharper, the direction likewise, and those two important aspects not being as strong as possible create a ripple effect that neuters what should have been a good bit of gory fun.

6/10

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Shudder Saturday: Leave (2022)

I wanted to like Leave, I really did,  but this tale of a young woman trying to trace her family roots ended feeling far too mediocre, and also surprisingly predictable. Although technically competent, it's the kind of thing that puts you off wanting to see anything else from either the writer or director.

Alicia von Rittberg plays Hunter, a woman who wants to find out why she was abandoned as a baby. She was left in a graveyard, wrapped in a cloth adorned with satanic symbols. Personally, I wouldn't want to know how that happened to me, but Hunter is different from me. She ends up in Norway, and eventually meets people who may have known her mother. Unfortunately, her mother is no longer around, apparently having been killed by Hunter's father (Kristian, played by Morten Holst). Digging around leads to some secrets being uncovered while people start to become more tense.

I have seen some people complain that this is just a thriller marketed as a horror movie, a criticism I don’t think is fair. But I am going to note here that this is certainly a mild horror movie, and not want to recommend to anyone after major scares or some blood and guts. It is a supernaturally-tinged mystery, and some may enjoy that approach to the material.

Sadly, I didn’t.

If I spent some time referencing the better movies that this called to mind then I would risk spoiling the third act, but let’s just say that we have seen this done many times before in ways that were much more entertaining. The trappings may be slightly different, with the Norwegian setting and some conversations touching on the (in)famous black metal scene over there, but the main plot beats are very familiar.

Writer Thomas Moldestad has given us some good stuff in the past (slasher movie fans will definitely want to check out the Cold Prey movies), and there's nothing in the script that is actually terrible here, but he certainly seems to be cruising on auto-pilot this time around. Director Alex Herron has a background made up of music videos and TV shows that focus on bands, but none of the expected style and flashiness you might expect from a music video director is here. That would usually be considered a good thing, and maybe something that Herron was very consciously trying to avoid, but it might have been a welcome addition here. The story isn't strong enough to carry the film without any standout touches or moments to support it.

Von Rittberg is fine in the lead role, although the fact that she looks quite a bit like Riley Keough was both a plus and distraction for me (maybe it's just me, I kept wondering if it WAS Keough in the main role, and wondering how the film-makers had convinced her to join them). It helps that her character gets to do more than stand around and look shifty (unlike the characters played by Stig R. Amdam, Herman Tømmeraas, and, of course, Holst). Ellen Dorrit Petersen also does well in a small role, and both Ragnhild Gudbrandsen and Maria Alm Norell deserve a mention, as does Clarence Smith (playing the understanding adoptive father of our main character).

Trying to maintain a sense of seriousness throughout, even when things seem to be crying out for some schlocky silliness, Leave will leave you cold and disappointed by the time the end credits roll. I would say it is a distinctly average film, but the fact that it could have been much better means that it feels worse than that. It may work better for people who haven't seen many other films in the same vein, but it won't work for most viewers. It's competent, as I said at the start of this review, but when have you ever been dying to see a film best described as "competent"?

4/10

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Cold Prey (2006)

It shouldn't be so difficult to make a good slasher movie. Fans of the sub-genre will know that all you need is a bit of style, some inventiveness and a good killer. And if you can throw some gratuitous nudity into the mix, then all the better. Yet the seemingly neverending stream of bad slasher movies may make people think that something REALLY special is needed in this day and age to sate fans of the sub-genre. Thankfully, movies like Cold Prey come along to remind everyone how simple things can be. I'm not saying that Cold Prey didn't take some considerable talent to make or that it was a walk in the park for those involved, but I am saying that it provides solid entertainment and some decent set-pieces without rewriting the rulebook for the slasher movie.

Cold Prey is all about a bunch of people who go on a snowboarding vacation. They get up a mountain and start having fun only for one of them (Morten, played by Rolf Kristian Larsen) to spoil it all by falling badly and breaking his leg. A fall leading to a broken leg is bad at the worst of times, but in an isolated environment with such low temperatures it could spell disaster. Luckily, there's a hotel nearby so they head to it and get inside. You might be able to guess where things are heading now. Yes, the hotel is unoccupied, or so they think.

Directed by Roar Uthaug, who also wrote the thing with Thomas Moldestad and Martin Sundland (from an idea by Jan Eirik Langoen and Magne Lyngner), Cold Prey exceeds expectations thanks to the mix of likable characters, tense moments and, despite the horror genre requirements, a certain amount of plausibility.

The acting from all involved - the main five players being Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Rolf Krisitan Larsen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Endre Martin Midtstigen and Viktoria Winge - is pretty good, the script isn't that bad either and everything just feels as if it was put together with a bit of care and intelligence. The environment helps a lot. The isolation factor, so crucial to many horrors of this kind, never feels too contrived and the fact that the external temperature is so cold also keeps the characters in the area they end up so desperately wanting to leave.

So while it may not be the most original horror movie that you will see, this remains an entertaining watch that still manages to feel surprisingly fresh. And now I also have to check out the sequels.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-Prey-DVD/dp/B001U74D1O/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1362458635&sr=1-2