A Team Retreat That Turns Terrifying
The Conference begins like many modern horror-comedies: a mix of group dynamics, awkward personalities, and environmental tension. A group of municipal employees is sent on a teambuilding retreat after months of internal conflict. They’re there to bond, to shake off tension, and to push forward a big project — building a shopping mall (the “Kolarängen Mall”) on land that once belonged to a farmer who was strongly opposed and ultimately lost his land.
What the group doesn’t expect: accusations of corruption, shady financial dealings, fraud with contracts, environmental damage, and internal betrayals. Tensions build gradually: the eco-activist in the group, those nostalgic for Sweden’s social democratic past, the power-hoppers, the managers who cut corners. Then the veneer of corporate civility is shattered when people begin to die — one by one — under gruesome, masked attack. The secluded forest lodge, the zip-lining, the group meals, the lakeside cottages all set the mood: nothing safe, everything outside both physically and morally.
By the end, after a traumatic game of survival, some truths surface — the killer is revealed (or at least strongly implied) to be the son of the farmer whose land was taken. Motive: revenge for loss, environmental outrage, and sense that betrayals (legal, moral, ecological) by the corporation and its employees deserve blood.
What Fans Guessed Before the Final Mask Came Off
Even before release, teaser trailers raised two big questions in fan forums: Who is the killer? And what will be the tone — more horror or more satire? The promotional material leaned heavily into the comedian side: teambuilding scenes, forced bonding, awkward speech-making, clichés of office retreats. But the masked killer in forest shadows promised violence. This tension excited fans: would it be a standard slasher, or a sharp social critique wrapped in blood?
Some viewers speculated wildly that “Jonas,” the ambitious one leading the mall project, might be corrupt and also the killer. Others thought the environmental activist (Frans) was the one driven so far that vengeance became personal. Some fans theorized that the killer might not even physically exist — that the murders are hallucinations born of guilt, eco-anxiety, or psychological breakdown.
There was also speculation about alternate endings: could Lina (the character played by Katia Winter) survive? Would there be a twist where the killer is someone unexpected, or multiple killers? Some guesses even suggested the final confrontation at the lodge might end not with the killer’s reveal, but with a moral collapse — the corporation getting exposed but survivors paying a psychological price rather than a bodily one.
What the Creators Said When They Caught Breath
In interviews, director Patrik Eklund and screenwriter Thomas Moldestad addressed some of the speculation. Moldestad admitted they wanted to keep the killer’s identity ambiguous for as long as possible, to keep the audience guessing, and to play honestly with motives rather than cheap jump scares. Eklund discussed how the corporate greed and environmental themes weren’t afterthoughts; they are central to the story, and the horror elements emerge from the moral rot within the group, not just external violence.
Mats Strandberg, the author whose novel The Conference inspired the film, worked as executive producer and has said in statements that he was especially keen on preserving the uncomfortable, “what do you do when you realize your own side is compromised” moments. He praised Eklund and Moldestad for balancing horror and dark comedy — for showing characters who are flawed in ways that ring true.
Some of the fan theories made their way into interviews. When people accused certain characters of being obvious suspects (Jonas or Frans), the filmmakers played coy: “You might be right, but the motive might surprise you,” Eklund teased. When viewers guessed that the final mask might belong to someone other than Frans, casting or editing choices were used to mislead (camera angles, red herrings, false clues).
Alternate Endings and the Scissors in the Edit Room
Not all fan theories remained just theories. There are reports that during editing, the film had at least one alternate ending. In some early cuts, the killer’s mask was removed in a less-identifiable way, so the audience would be less certain — the reveal was more ambiguous. Another version had an extended scene where Jonas’s betrayal played out more. In the theatrical / Netflix version, that was trimmed for pacing — so the betrayal becomes a plot twist rather than a slow burn.
Also, some test screenings indicated audiences wanted more moral reflection — perhaps a scene after the horror ended where surviving characters face public backlash, regret, or environmental justice. That scene was apparently filmed but cut because the film already ran for about 100 minutes, and the tone was becoming uneven. Eklund has mentioned that trimming was painful: there are characters whose emotional arcs feel shorter than intended, but pacing demanded it.
Scenes and Clues Fans Missed in the Forest
Once the film was out, deeper watching revealed hiding in plain sight: early dialogue about the farmland, farming families, and how the land was taken without proper compensation. Small remarks about water runoff and deforestation from trees being cut for mall foundations. These were not background flavor — they were seeds of motive for the killer.
The mask itself, which looks like a charcoal burner’s outfit (a traditional working-class figure in some Nordic contexts), becomes symbolic: a representation of forgotten labor, environmental exploitation, and lost heritage. Fans noticed that the killer’s use of that mask matches metaphorically with the “mascot” created for the mall — both are shallow postures, images used to sell something, and both hide real suffering beneath.
Also, character relationships: Lina’s distance from Jonas is more than professional; some viewers felt her guilt or hesitation around the mall project hinted she had inside knowledge of ethical violations earlier. Her arc is quieter, more about conscience, and that distinguishes her among the group. Nadja, often treated as side character, in fact was given multiple survival chances (shooting, hiding) which fans celebrated — she becomes a kind of moral–physical pivot at the end.
Where Criticism and Praise Collided
Critics mostly praised The Conference for its sharp satire and how it uses familiar corporate retreat tropes but adds enough gore to keep horror fans satisfied. Reviews pointed out that the first half, with character build-up, interpersonal conflict, and moral tension, is strong. The forest lodge becomes claustrophobic even among open trees because of interpersonal hypocrisy and hidden motives.
On the flip side, some felt that once the killer is revealed, the film leans heavily into slasher clichés: the murderer chasing through woods, the “betrayal” twist, the power struggles within the survivors. A few reviews argued that the clues were “too obvious” in retrospect, that motives got shoehorned to match genre expectations. Some fans also wished the ending had been more ambiguous — keeping alive the idea that maybe several characters shared complicity, or that there was more than one killer.
The Making That Shaped the Mood
In production notes, one of the most interesting facts is: the film was shot in Sweden, but many of the forest lodge and lake retreat settings were chosen for maximal isolation. The crew purposely selected locations difficult to access, in order to create a sense among actors of being “cut off” from the rest of the world. That isolation, many actors said in interviews, helped them slip into fear more naturally. There were days when the crew couldn’t get cell reception, or when weather changed suddenly to mist or wind, which were used rather than fought against — lighting and sound crews would keep going during rain, the fog used for atmosphere.
Casting also had its moments: the role of Lina was offered to a few actors before Katia Winter took it; Winter has said she was drawn to the script because she loved how imperfect Lina is, and how much moral weight she carries. Eva Melander (Eva) found her character’s political cynicism and moral rise/fall especially compelling. She reportedly spent time visiting rural communities in Sweden to understand protests, land rights, and what it feels like to watch one’s land be taken — to bring authenticity to the environmental conflict in the film.
Mask design, too, was a creative experiment: the mask for the killer wasn’t going to be the charcoal-burner-style mask in early drafts. It was more generic and sterile. But the team decided it needed to be something local, something evocative, and something uncomfortable — something that looks like a mascot one moment and a monster the next. So they reworked it, built it out of local references, with craftsmanship so that in some shots, its silhouette is familiar, before it becomes uncanny in low light.
Even the sound design was unusual: footsteps, distant birdcalls, wood cracking, leaves rustling were recorded in the forest—and during kills, they often mixed in natural ambient sounds from outside the shoot location to confuse actors about where danger “sounds” came from. Actors have said that in the forest scenes, they felt “listened to,” almost haunted by the woods itself.
What the Open Questions Still Are
When the credits roll, we know who the killer likely is and why. But many viewers still discuss: did the murderer act alone? Was the environmental damage enough justification, in the film’s moral economy, for the deaths? Did Jonas survive or not (some viewers think the rapid final attack on Lina is edited so loosely it might be ambiguous who delivers what wound)?
There’s speculation that if there is a sequel, it could explore legal consequences, the public outcry, or even ghosts of the land—supernatural or metaphorical. Patrik Eklund has hinted in some interviews that if demand is high, they have ideas about expanding the story, following survivors or exploring the farmer’s family more deeply.
And so The Conference ends with questions: about justice, guilt, responsibility, and what lurks beneath workplaces, forests, and broken promises. The film might be over, but the conversations it started are still going strong.
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