Amsterdamned (1988)


After watching Amsterdamned I had to look up director Dick Maas for some idea of how this movie, and a Dutch director who obviously took his cues from Hollywood rather than Europe, flew under my radar.  Turns out he didn't, but I just never knew that he was behind two of my favorite rock videos of all time, both by Golden Earring: "Twilight Zone" and "When the Lady Smiles".  The latter caused a lot of controversy at the time with an edited version being featured on MTV, pretty much avoiding Barry Hay trying to get busy with a nun on the subway.

Amsterdamned doesn't shy away from controversy itself.  It's a rather violent thriller in the style of both Italian police procedurals and American action films like The French Connection.  It also, even in its dubbed form, doesn't even pretend to be an American film despite its influences.  The Netherlands is a country that itself flies under the radar when it comes to cinema, but I'm definitely curious after seeing this.

Eric Visser (Huub Stapel) is an Amsterdam detective who lives with his teenage daughter Anneke (Tatum Dagelet).  He is called to the scene of a gruesome murder of a prostitute (Barbara Martijn) on one the canals, and soon a number of murders begins to occur around the city's waterways.  As the bodies pile up the pressure is on Wisser to find out who is responsible, but he still takes some time off to romance a diver named Laura (Monique van de Ven) he meets while investigating.  

The killer continues to get bolder the more his kills go unpunished, leading Wisser and the other officers, including an old rival of Wisser's named John (Wim Zomer), to start closing in on suspects.  However, it is possible that Laura may be a lot closer to the finding the killer than Wisser is. 

This has everything a movie like this should.  A great opening, a long boat chase in the middle, and even a halfway decent ending.  It may be a little bit of a letdown that there isn't a huge cat-and-mouse pursuit or gun battle to finish it off, but it works, and Amsterdamned still has enough European sensibilities to not go full-on with the American cliches.  

Huub Stapel, Monique van de Ven and a few others did their own dubbing, though this still does bring the movie down a step.  Dubbed line reading is always difficult when it comes to getting across the true feel of the acting, and it is no exception here, especially with the combination of Dutch-accented English combined with American voice actors.  It's still better than a lot of Italian and Spanish films in that regard, but it does get a bit distracting. 

Still, Amsterdamned has a style of its own despite its influences and makes for a decent budgeted exploitation film.  It doesn't hold back on the nastiness of the kills or some of the sleaze, but it also doesn't fail to entertain and to keep a good pace for its running time.  It is nice to see movies like this still being made that late into the '80s when the long set pieces had been abandoned for constant action and one-liners. 

Amsterdamned (1988)
Time: 114 minutes
Starring: Huub Stapel, Monique van de Ven, Hidde Maas, Wim Zomer
Director: Dick Maas

 

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