‘Be afraid… it means you’re still alive!’
Amsterdamned is a 1988 Dutch horror thriller film written and directed by Dick Maas (Silent Witness; The Lift; Saint). It stars Huub Stapel (Saint; The Lift), Monique van de Ven (The Johnsons) and Serge-Henri Valcke.
On August 29, 2017, Blue Underground is releasing Amsterdamned as a Blu-ray + DVD combo in North America using a brand new 2K restoration from the original Dutch negative approved by director Dick Maas.
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Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Dick Maas and Editor Hans van Dongen
The Making of Amsterdamned
Tales From the Canal – Interview with Star Huub Stapel
Damned Stunt Work – Interview with Stunt Coordinator Dickey Beer
Dutch Trailer
Trailer
Loïs Lane Music Video – “Amsterdamned” (Directed by Dick Maas)
Poster and Still Gallery
Collector’s Booklet with a new essay by writer Michael Gingold
A serial killer who uses the canals of the Dutch capital to strike random people. A hard-boiled detective in charge of the case teams up with an old friend to stop the killer. He soon realizes that his new girlfriend may be linked somehow to the murders, but not what one would expect.
Opening from his point of view, a murderer looks around the city of Amsterdam at night through the canals the city is famous for. He sneaks into a Chinese restaurant’s back door and steals a butcher knife while the cooks weren’t looking. The killer finds his first victim in a local prostitute, who after refusing advances from a cab driver, gets thrown out of the cab. A bag lady watches from a distance as the killer plunges the knife into the hooker and drags her back into the water.
The next morning, a tour boat on the canal collides with the body of the prostitute, who has been hung on one of the small bridges. As the tourists scream, the body drags on the top of the boat until an opening shows her bloodied body and face…
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Reviews:
“Amsterdamned has a fair body count and a couple of surprise kills, most of them off-screen, but effective. One especially raw scene sees the diver ram his knife up through a small floatie raft. The knife places itself between the legs of a suave girl in a bikini before she’s forcefully dragged towards the razor sharp blade, a classic cringer. Being a thriller with elements of horror and suspense, there’s also a couple of great genre correct jump scares one a delicious Jaws homage.” Cinezilla
“Despite the horrible dubbing, this one stands as something truly unique and special in the genre. It has an ingenious setting, a cool killer, an original plot, good scary kills with enough gore and some genuine scares. It has some amazing chase scenes and stunt work and some amazing underwater photography as well.” Ronnie Angel, Slashed Dreams
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“It’s the full package: a slasher movie with giallo influences and an action film that plays out like the Dutch version of The French Connection. There’s comedy, romance, horror; the only thing it’s missing is an eponymous end credits song… oh wait, it’s not missing that at all!” The Pink Smoke Video Oddities
“When Visser is stood on a dock by a river, she emerges in a wetsuit and climbs up next to him, her bust thrusting out at the camera. Visser looks her up and down, then slyly says “You’re wet.” What a charmer. It is easy to see why Amsterdamned has gained a cult following since its release. Overall it is a good film plus has some convincing and unique kills as well as that speedboat chase scene.” UK Horror Scene
“What Amsterdamned most resembles is a second-rate television cop thriller from the mid-’70s. The story is hopelessly stale; even the hairstyles seem time-warped. Supposedly, the film was something of a sensation in Holland, which perhaps says more about the cultural life of the Netherlands than about the movie. The notoriety, I would imagine, is due to some of the director’s more garish touches…” Washington Post
Trailer:
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