Caçada no Canal da Morte

"Amsterdamned" is probably the only real Dutch action movie ever made. As such, it's also the best Dutch action movie ever made. When compared to standard Hollywood action movies, Amsterdamned falls somewhere in the middle: it's not a masterpiece, but it's not terrible either.

The acting is usually terrible in Dutch movies, and this movie is no different. Monique v.d. Ven and Huub Stapel are fine, but the supporting cast is filled with a bunch of over-acting amateurs. Sound quality is poor too: I am from Holland and I often have trouble understanding what the people are saying. But the action sequences (and there are a lot of those) are surprisingly well done for Dutch standards. And fortunately, the movie doesn't take itself too seriously.

All in all the action and humour make up for the occasionally terrible acting and somewhat flawed plot.

**/2 out of **** stars

Now I can't believe that this little gem has passed me by for so long, especially being a big fan of slashers and giallo movies, well this was a nice treat and it's appealing enough and just when you thought you've seen everything that this genre has to offer, "Amsterdamned" puts a unique spin on things by featuring a killer dressed in scuba diving gear swimming around the canals of Amsterdam looking for his next victim.

It's all well paced, being mainstream enough for thriller fans and yet gruesome e and sleazy enough for horror fans. That is also dozens of red herrings that keeps the viewer interested enough to keep watching up until the final reveal which okay can be a bit of a cop out, but the dozens of stunts that were handled very well, and when the killer pops out of the water to claim its next victim, it is genially scary and given the fact that he can do this and escape easily into the canals does add a sense of danger to the proceedings and makes everything a lot more tense and frightening.

The main central character Vissor played brilliantly by Huub Stabel who's trying to solve this case before the killer strikes again and also has the best scene in the movie with the speed boat chase, which was exciting and thrilling at the same time, and will always be an iconic memorable scene. This movie also uses the beautiful city of Amsterdam to its full effect showing all the beautiful sights and scenery. Another standout performance was Serge-Henri Valcke who clearly steals the show with his funny comedic elements, which adds a touch of greatness to this movie.

All in all "Amsterdamned" is a great watch and is a definite highlight in the giallo genre and has a great mix of everything and plus a really cool killer.

Like I say in my comments on "De Lift", this is particularly funny for Dutch-aholics. A lot of the scenes are references to Dutch famous people, or will later become references to those.

The Bond-like chase through the canals of "Amsterdam", is one of the most famous scenes, and is up to Hollywood standard. Huub Stapel is again the best choice for the leading character "Eric Visser", charming, tenacious, and this time single. The comic relieves are numerous in this movie, but the best to me are the scenes where Stapel's daughter Anneke and her friend Willy try to find the killer through telepathy. And luckily Dick Maas doesn't resort to an old Hollywood trick, and let them solve the whole thing.

Unfortunately, the whole industry in Europe is only interested in making "interesting, and challenging" movies. Movie making in Europe should be about the art, not about the money, according to the critics. The result, however, is that most movies from Europe are either depressing to the point of throwing yourself from a tall building, or completely incomprehensible, or just boring. There are a few great exceptions to the rule, and this is certainly one of them.

For those who saw it in 1988 in a theater, and happened to be in a theater that (as is usual in Holland) puts in a break half way through the movie, so they can scam you out of your money selling over priced drinks (okay different story), you might remember one of the best finishing touches to a movie ever seen: the hand that shoots out of the water, holding a strawberry ice cream cone! That actually had me about 5 inches of my seat.

A serial killer is stalking victims in the famous Amsterdam canals. Can a young detective save the city from being Amsterdamned?

The films opens with a very convincing stalking scene with an unknown assailant swimming around the canals. The monster claims their first victim, a prostitute who is walking the dark, desolate streets late one night. She is brutally stabbed and then strung up in the canals for a tour group to find the next morning while their boat rides through. We meet a police detective named Visser who is assigned to the case

Visser investigates a local scuba diving facility where he meets a beautiful woman named Laura. They spark a relationship immediately. Meanwhile, the serial killer claims a few more victims along the way. Most are stabbed and dragged into the canal to die. Visser begins to feel the pressure from the police commissioner and mayor as they are terrified what these murders will do for the public image and tourism in Amsterdam. Will Visser stop the psychopath?

I really like Amsterdamned a lot as a late 80's slasher for many reasons. One, the filming locations. I found the canals and dark alleys/streets surrounding it to be an eerily perfect place for the killer to stalk their victims. Another is that the POV stalking scenes of the killer are top notch. They are done in such a creepy way, Dick Maas deserves a lot of credit for the work on them. They create a lot of on the edge of your seat tension and terror. Also, this movie looks REALLY good for being done in 1988 in terms of picture quality. The one major negative for me was killer reveal and the ending. It all just felt a bit rushed.

I highly recommend Amsterdamned to any horror fan. It is a slick and high quality late 80's slasher flick with amazing stalking POV scenes and some gore as well. The ending is a bit of a mess for me, but the acting and scares makes this a must see.

8/10

This movie is often discarded as a wannabe action/suspense movie and even though I'm not a big fan of Dutch cinema I have to give it credit for the daring stunts and the way they make fun of our capital city. There's nothing in the world like Dutch humour.I was afraid to walk next to the canals when I saw this movie (note I was 9 at the time)