The Conference

THE Conference is a Swedish comedy slasher about a mangy group of local government employees who go to a vacation resort for some team-building exercises before the construction of a new shopping centre in their district.

Based on a book by Mats Strandberg, this new Netflix film is lighthearted and slapstick with plenty to quench horror fans’ appetite for gore, despite plenty of cringe elements throughout.

My biggest problem with The Conference, which is directed by Patrik Eklund, is its depthless characters.

The players onscreen are so one-dimensional and false, its as if they have been pulled directly from the set of Scandinavian children’s favourite, LazyTown. We even have a Robbie Rotten among the cast of grovelling and stereotypical public sector workers, who do very little to win me over or have me routing for their survival.

A tale of corruption, murder, and mayhem that spirals out of all control, it comes off like a half-baked cross between Tucker and Dale vs Evil and Dead Snow made for teeny tots on daytime television.

Think Scooby Doo with notions of Shaun of the Dead greatness that really feels more like Friday the 13th with a Peppa Pig twist.

This ragtag group of grey council workers are about to announce plans for a new mall to bring business to a district, already on its knees, but it all goes tits up in the same way as Limerick’s O’Connell Street Revitalisation Project. To make matters worse, there’s a masked loon hacking the doltish band of pencil pushers to bits.

The Conference is an exercise in teamwork that doesn’t succeed. The film’s biggest flaw is that the characters do not gel and come off as either overplaying their parts or not playing them hard enough. They are grating, removing the element of tension, as I take great satisfaction in their gruesome expiration.

If you are looking for a few Halloween thrills and giggles, this one is inoffensive and will while away your time without demanding anything much of you.

(3/5)

The Angry Black Girl and her Monster

THE Angry Black Girl and her Monster is a cross between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Boyz n the Hood with a Candyman twist.

A film about coping with the loss of a loved one, set in a black community overrun with drug-dealing gangstas, the debut feature from director Bomani J Story has a compelling plot.

Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes) is a plucky and brainy teenager. After the passing of her mother at a young age, and the brutal murder of her brother Chris (Edem Atsu-Swanzy), she becomes convinced that death is a disease that can be cured.

With Vicarias’ grief-stricken father lost to drugs to deal with his pain, the smart youngster embarks on a treacherous journey to bring her older sibling bak to life, and put her family and her shattered community back together again.

Clearly inspired by Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Angry Black Girl and her Monster is a strong debut with convincing characters and a gripping narrative on grief and dealing with the death of a loved one.

As a straight down the line horror film, there is plenty of spills and thrills to keep audiences entertained throughout. However, as a tale with a chest-beating social conscience, it tends to come apart at the seams.

It is more a direct descendent of Bernard Rose’s 1992 classic Candyman than it is any relation to Jordan Peele’s remake or his more weighty shockers dealing with the social issues of the day, such as Get Out or Us.

Bomani J Story, who wrote and directed the film, now on Shudder, has delivered a well-crafted slasher, filled with drama, gore, and plenty of spirt.

It is a film about family, rebirth, and community. It works on so many levels but is let down by a story that often feels underdeveloped and disjointed. In a nutshell, it tries to be all things to all people, and loses some of its focus.

Still, this is a decent watch with noble intentions, despite its foibles.

(3/5)

Brooklyn 45

WRITTEN and directed by Ted Geoghegan, Brooklyn 45 comes across as equal parts Poirot-style drawing-room mystery and ghostly horror, in the vein of The Old Dark House, with a sprinkling of Evil Dead carnage for good measure.

This beautifully lit chamber piece brings five military veterans together on Friday December 27, 1945, in the ornate parlour of a Brooklyn brownstone. Emotionally damaged and physically scarred from the horrors of World War Two, the five friends are each haunted in their own ways and all fighting a great internal battle.

Peacetime is a definite struggle for them, and the notion of life without conflict seems a bridge too far.

Best friends since childhood, they’ve reunited to support their troubled host Lt Col Clive Huckstatter (Larry Fessenden) – but when his invitation for cocktails turns into an impromptu séance, the metaphoric ghosts of their past become all too literal.

Trapped in their host’s lounge, the ‘greatest generation’ now finds themselves put to one final test, and the only route to freedom is more bloodshed.

Geoghegan goes for a classic Hollywood feel, which comes off at times as overly sedate, and the director struggles to build up any real sense of tension or to create a claustrophobic atmosphere to draw the viewer in.

Anne Ramsay is the star of the show as famed Nazi interrogator Maria Sheridan and keeps the film from falling flat on its face on numerous occasions.

Brooklyn 45’s biggest flaw is trying to be all things to all people. It might have made for a good-old fashioned murder mystery or ghostly caper, but the combination of both, together with all too stiff-necked performances, poorly pixlelated spectres, and the element of gory horror, takes the good out of it on every level.

New to Shudder, Geoghegan’s latest proves to be a disappointing hodgepodge that adds way too many ingredients to its ‘old skool’ broth.

(3/5)