Amsterdamned

Bodies keep turning up in the canals of Amsterdam. The killer comes from under the water, attacks in diving gear and goes back down. Detective Eric Visser goes after him, and the hunt requires going into the water himself. Dick Maas wrote, directed and scored it. Huub Stapel plays Visser. The famous section is the long speedboat chase. It begins in Amsterdam and suddenly moves to the canals of Utrecht in the middle; the reason is technical, since the low quay needed for the boats to ride up and plough through a terrace does not exist in Amsterdam. There was an accident in the same sequence. A stunt driver misjudged a turn and Stapel's boat hit a wall; the actor was off set for three weeks and came away with permanent nerve damage. The chase is an open salute to the Amsterdam boat sequence in Puppet on a Chain from 1971, down to the colours of the boats. It was an unusually large Dutch production for its time and travelled well beyond the country. Who it is for: fans of eighties European thrillers and well-built chases. Who it is not for: anyone expecting tight detective plotting; the resolution is weak.