Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Film / Amsterdamned

Go To

1%%
2%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
3%%
4[[quoteright:268:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amsterd_9541.jpg]]
5
6->''"Somewhere, somewhere in the black night\
7Shining, eyes that follow your stride\
8You can't hide\
9From the monster reptile"''
10-->-- "Amsterdamned" by '''Lois Lane''', the end credits theme
11
12''Amsterdamned'' is a Dutch horror thriller movie from 1988 by Dick Maas (''Film/DeLift'', ''Film/{{Flodder}}'').
13
14The film is set in the eponymous (damned!) capital, where a SerialKiller wearing scuba gear is prowling in the city canals and uses them to get to his victims.
15----
16!! Amsterdam was damned by:
17
18* EightiesHair: ''Everyone'', except perhaps [[spoiler:the killer]].
19* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Eric chases the killer into one.
20* AloneWithThePsycho: Happens multiple times, such as [[spoiler:John squaring off against him inside the sunken boat and when Eric chasing him into the sewers]]. It usually ends badly for the receiving party.
21* AnimalReactionShot: From a cat, during the raft attack.
22* AnkleDrag: After his partner's demise, the second environmentalist swims to the shore to call for help. Just after a truck driver notices him and comes in for a closer look, he is grabbed by the killer and is dragged off into the water.
23* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Eric's daughter Anneke is introduced by trying to scare her father with his gun, which he just left lying around, apparently loaded.
24* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Just before the police reach the killer in the end, he puts his harpoon gun into his mouth and kills himself.]]
25* AttemptedRape: A taxi driver tries to force the prostitute he's accompanying to perform oral sex on him. Unfortunately for him, she bites.
26* BigDamnHeroes: Just as Laura is about to be dragged under by the killer, Eric and Vermeer arrive and chase him away.
27* BloodIsSquickerInWater: Anybody anyone ever dies in this movie, blood ''will'' trickle into the water somewhere.
28* BloodSplatteredInnocents: The prostitute's body is hung from a bridge, and ends up entering a tour boat filled with (among others) young children and nuns.
29* BusFullOfInnocents: Appear throughout the boat chase.
30* ButtMonkey: Vermeer, the geeky cop who fails horribly at absolutely everything badass Eric manages with ease.
31* CarryABigStick: After bein convinced that [[spoiler:Martin]] is the killer, Laura ambushes him from behind and beats him with a boat oar.
32* ChaseScene: Two; the first one has the police chasing a suspect on a motorcycle, and the second one has Eric chase the actual killer on boats they commandeer.
33* CityOfCanals: The film is all about Amsterdam's canals, including a speedboat chase. (Incidentally, it was shot in Utrecht, not Amsterdam.)
34* TheCoroner: Sam the morgue director.
35* CoversAlwaysLie: One makes it look kind of like an alien invasion film.
36* CrazyHomelessPeople: The bag lady. It didn't exactly add any credibility to witness testimony about the "canal monster".
37* DisposableSexWorker: The first victim is a prostitute. Perhaps reflecting the country's open attitude (prostitution being legal and regulated), it's treated as seriously by the police as the killer's subsequent murders.
38* DisturbedDoves: Or ducks, in this case.
39* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The killer, per harpoon gun.]]
40* TheDrunkenSailor: One of the victims goes down with his sabotaged boat because he's too sozzled not to.
41* EpicFail: The main suspect tries to jump an opening bridge on his motorcycle, and fails rather badly.
42* EveryoneIsASuspect: [[spoiler:And the first two of them are a RedHerring]].
43%%* EvilOverlooker
44* EyeScream: "Her eyes were already fish food." There's also ''something'' wrong with one of the sailor victim's eye.
45* FacialHorror: When the killer's face is finally revealed, it's pretty fucked up.
46* FanDisservice: The prostitute's naked, mutilated body on the coroner's slab.
47%%* FanserviceWithASmile
48* FightScene: An underwater one, between John and the killer.
49* FriendToPsychos: [[spoiler:Martin]], though rather unknowingly.
50* GoodColorsEvilColors: The killer's gear is black, and he steals a black speedboat, while John's gear is yellow, and Eric chases after the killer's boat with a yellow one.
51* GoodCopBadCop: Geeky Vermeer and Badass Eric, respectively.
52* GoryDiscretionShot: The killer [[spoiler:committing suicide]]. The result is shown later, however.
53* GratuitousEnglish: It's the Netherlands, so it's more of a given than normally.
54* GrimyWater: 1980s Amsterdam canals were far from the cleanest waterways, which makes hiding in them much easier.
55* GrievousBottleyHarm: The main suspect lost his job when he attacked someone with a broken bottle in a drunken rage.
56* GroinAttack: The taxi driver gets bit by the prostitute when he tries to force her to perform oral sex on him, and the raft victim gets knifed between her legs.
57* HarpoonGun: Vermeer gets shot in the arm with one, while Eric sustains a shot to the shoulder a bit later. [[spoiler:The killer also commits suicide with one]].
58* HazardousWater: The killer operates from inside the ''Grachten'' and drags his victims inside before finishing them off.
59* {{Homage}}: The boat chase scene homages the film ''Puppet on a Chain'', which was also set in Amsterdam.
60* HopeSpot: The second environmentalist swims to shore and flags down a passing truck, but is dragged underwater before help can reach him.
61* HostileWeather: It suddenly becomes stormy during the finale.
62* IKnowKarate: "No reason to be afraid, I do judo."
63* {{Jerkass}}: The taxi driver, and the suspect.
64* KidDetective: Anneke and Willy try to find the killer on their own. [[spoiler:Thankfully, they fail.]]
65* LittleMissSnarker: Anneke. Though with a slobby dad like that, it's hardly surprising.
66* LocationDoubling: Large parts were filmed in Utrecht.
67* LockAndLoadMontage: The killer gets one.
68* MalevolentMaskedMen: The killer wears a full-body neoprene suit and goggles.
69* ManBitesMan: The first victim deals with the taxi driver trying to force her to perform fellatio on him via biting.
70%%* MirrorScare
71* MoeGreeneSpecial: Averted. Eric manages to shoot the killer right in the diving goggles, but they stop the bullet from reaching his eye.
72* MrExposition: [[spoiler:Martin reveals the identity of the real killer, who turns out to have been a good friend, in the end.]]
73* MurdererPOV: The opening shows a long shot of the killer emerging from the canal and spying on the people on the street.
74* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: Vermeer shares his last name with a [[Creator/JohannesVermeer famous 17th century Dutch painter]].
75* NerdGlasses: Willy's simply obliged to wear spectacles.
76* NoNameGiven: Most of the victims, and the killer.
77* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The mayor doesn't want the romantic image of Amsterdam to suffer from the attacks, which is why he wants results asap.
78* OffWithHisHead: The first environmentalist is dragged down from the boat, and when he pulls up the anchor, he finds his severed head placed on it.
79* ThePlace: PunBasedTitle into a VerbedTitle.
80* PeekABooCorpse: After his buddy disappears from their boat, the second environmentalist pulls in the anchor, and discovers his friend's head impaled on it. Later on, John is scared when a dead sailor pops out of a closet while he is exploring a sunken ship.
81* PermaStubble: Eric sports a 5 o'clock shadow that practically shouts CowboyCop.
82* PerpSweating: The first [[spoiler: RedHerring suspect gets a rather pointless session]].
83* PieInTheFace: Eric stops a bakery robbery by handcuffing the robber, and slamming his face into a cake. It is evidently delicious.
84* PipePain: While doing her own little investigation with Willy in a possible location of the killer, Anneke grabs a pipe to defend herself with.
85* {{Portmantitle}}: Amsterdam + damned.
86%% * RampJump: With boats!
87* RedHerring: The most prominent one being [[spoiler:Martin]], who's implied to be the killer when Laura investigates his mansion and finds scuba gear hidden away somewhere. He's not, though, the real killer [[spoiler:was actually one of Martin's patients.]]
88* SceneryPorn: Amsterdam (and Utrecht) are very pretty places.
89* TheScourgeOfGod: The Salvationist is dragged into a canal after stealing some money.
90* ScreamDiscretionShot: Used on the raft victim getting knifed between the legs.
91* {{Seers}}: Willy claims to be one, and tries to use his gift to locate the killer. Turns out that he picked the correct spot,
92* SerratedBladeOfPain: "He used a similar instrument, but the knife was another type. One important difference is it had a serrated edge."
93* SerialKiller: Our killer, naturally.
94* ShirtlessScene: Eric gets one during [[spoiler:his hospital recovery after the killer shoots him in the shoulder with a harpoon gun]].
95* TheShrink: Martin, [[spoiler:though even he couldn't heal the killer]].
96* SilentAntagonist: [[spoiler:The killer]] never says a single word throughout the film.
97* SlashedThroat: [[spoiler:The killer ambushes John in a sunken boat, stabs him several times and cuts his throat.]]
98* SpitefulSpit: While being interrogated, a suspect spits in Eric's face, and he almost punches the guy in retaliation.
99* SpookySeance: Willy tries to hold one with Anneke during his introductory scene, only to be interrupted by Eric arriving home.
100* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler: The unnamed killer was once a salvage diver whose face was disfigured when a vat of uranium hexafluoride opened underwater on him. His employers had told him the chemicals were harmless and covered up the accident, letting him go. Being betrayed by his employers, his mind deteriorating from the chemicals, and people shunning him and being horrified by his disfigurement, are why he kills people in an attempt to take revenge on society.]]
101* StealingFromTheTill: A Salvationist pockets some of the donations she's collected.
102* StrangerBehindTheMask: The killer is [[spoiler:a random ex-diver pissed off at society because he was disfigured in a toxic waste-related incident]].
103* StuffBlowingUp: The killer crashes his own boat into another, resulting in a fiery explosion.
104* TearsOfBlood: When the sailor's dead body is found, blood appears to be leaking from one of his eyes.
105* ToxicWasteCanDoAnything: [[spoiler:The killer was disfigured by the contents of a toxic waste barrel underwater, and the radiation from it affected his brain, turning him into a homicidal maniac]].
106* UngratefulBastard: After Eric stops a bakery robbery and cuffs the perp, its owner only has complaints to give.
107--> "You used excessive force, and you ruined my cake!"
108* VaderBreath: A given since the killer is a diver.

Top