In the opening sequence of Dick Maas’s *Amsterdamned II*, a wealthy American couple drifts through the city’s canals at midnight. The setting is ostensibly romantic—champagne, string lights, the historic architecture of the Dutch capital—but the mood is sour. They complain about the smell of the water and the cramped antiquity of the houses, longing for the sterile luxury of Dubai. Their disdain is cut short when their skipper vanishes, and a knife pierces the hull from below. Within moments, the woman is dragged into the dark water by a figure in neoprene, her screams muffled by the roar of a passing motorcycle.
This sequel arrives nearly four decades after the 1988 original, a film that remains a singular landmark in Dutch cinematic history. The first *Amsterdamned* was a rare beast: a homegrown action blockbuster that utilized the city’s labyrinthine canal system as a stage for a slasher-thriller. It was a phenomenon that proved the Netherlands could produce high-octane genre fare that felt distinctly local yet commercially viable on a global scale.
However, the 2025 follow-up suggests a certain arrested development within the industry. While the sequel found commercial success upon its release last December, it was met with critical indifference—a "splash" that failed to ripple. By returning to the same scuba-clad killer and the same murky depths, Maas highlights a tension in Dutch film: a struggle to evolve beyond the shadows of past triumphs. The canals remain as dark as ever, but the novelty of the terror lurking within them has begun to settle into the silt.
With reporting from MUBI Notebook.
Source · MUBI Notebook
