After a series of gruesome killings around the canals of Amsterdam, a police detective sets out to capture the monster before he's taken off the case.
If Frantic (1988) captured a snapshot of Paris, Dick Maas' offering does the same for Amsterdam. It's a paint by numbers slasher, a series of kills strung together with a likeable lead Huub Stapel as hardboiled detective Eric Visser, great locations and setting.
Amsterdamned is an everything but the kitchen sink slasher, point of view shots, blood, severed body parts, an original killer and memorable scenes including a body hanging from a bridge, then being dragged along the roof of a boat in front of tourists and schoolchildren. There's also actress Leontine Ruiters' knife attack in a rubberboat, reminiscent of A Nightmare on Elm Street’s bathtub moment. Even a Miami Vice inspired speedboat chase is thrown in for good measure.
Yes, it's of its time, what would have been seen as bold, hot and steamy, now looks sleazy; and sexist but it is what it is. Yet, double standards of sorts, as no one bats an eyelid at the multitude of reality TV and gratuitous TV shows that makes this look tame in comparison. The pace, editing and staging is of its day, perms, tape players, it is a time capsule of joy. Fom shop assistants to tourists guides and protitutes there’s frowned upon eye-candy littered throughout. Lead Monique van de Ven doesn't just play the damsel in distress and gets to also dish out some violence. It benefits for an on-location look, the nighttime scenes offer some great atmosphere along with some solid makeup effects. Mass sets up a killer monster in the first act and manages to offer a twist ending, restraining himself of a double bluff twist.
Overall, worth watching not just for nostalgia but the novel killer idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment