RATING: B

Incredible Film presents a Splendid Film production in association with Potemkino, Guess Who Productions, Parachute Pictures, and 3C Films. Written and directed by Dick Maas. Produced by Dick Maas, Edvard van’t Wout, Huub Stapel, Diede in’t Veld, and Peter de Maego. Cinematography by Danny Elsen. Edited by Bert Rijkelijkhuizen.

Stars Huub Stapel, Holly Mae Brood, Ruben Brinkman, Pieter van der Sman, Dunya Khayame, Baz Keijzer, Steve Van Dam, Leslie Grant, Vaughn Joseph, Steef Cuijpers, and Tatum Dagelet. 

Dick Maas is back with this long-awaited sequel to his 1988 hit film and it’s not as bad as people may think, but it will have you thinking. 

On the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam’s founding, an American couple on a midnight boat stroll on the canals find themselves under attack by a mysterious figure. The next day, a tour boat is in shock to see their bodies on a pedal boat as it bursts into flames. Detective Tara Lee is in charge of the investigation. Tara is baffled by what has transpired and things are about to get worse when a drag queen is found hanging from a ship the following day.

All signs point to the possibility of a serial killer. Chief Koos van Amstel decides to bring someone in as a consultant as he has delved in a similar situation decades ago. And that is the now retired detective Eric Visser. At first, Tara and Eric don’t see eye-to-eye on facts, especially when Eric, who is set to receive an honorary medal in a week, has learned the man he supposedly stopped all those years ago, may not be the actual killer. Soon, Tara and Eric must team-up and determine if the killer is indeed the real killer or something supernatural. 

One of the biggest surprises of 2025 in its native Netherlands was this sequel, one of the latest of a long line of “legacy” sequels for franchises. It was quite a surprise when it was announced in 2023 and after 15 years, it is great to see the duo of writer/director Dick Maas and actor Huub Stapel together again with their last collaboration on the horror film Sint (Saint Nick). 

While Stapel doesn’t come in until about 20 minutes into the film, it is quite a funny introduction as Eric, despite his retirement, still wants to somehow live his glory days. His attempt to hit on a supermarket worker makes him question himself and where in the original film, he talks about “rare meat”, he tries and is disgusted with vegetarian food, a running gag of the film. Aside from Stapel, there is only one other original character returning is Anneke, Eric’s daughter, reprised by a now adult Tatum Dagelet. She makes a great addition as she tries to convince her dad not to return to police work and also takes part in the running gag. In a fun reference, Anneke’s son is named after her best friend in the original film, Willy. 

The film does use some AI in some scenes, but one thing is for sure. We have kills again that happen more off-screen and the aftermath is shown. However, a normal trope for Maas isn’t there this time around: the upside down corpse. Instead, we have a hanging corpse but it’s upright this time around. Also some of the action here is pretty intense, where we have a boat chase that doesn’t compare to the original iconic chase between Eric and the killer. However, this time, we have Tara on the front of the suspect’s boat and Eric first hops on a motorcycle then a jetski to give chase and Stapel did most of the work himself, showing he’s not going to let his 70 years stop him. 

While it is not as good as the iconic 1988 hit, Amsterdamned II is still a solid sequel. Huub Stapel still has it as Eric Visser, but don’t expect a romance angle but instead find his niche as a partner and mentor to newcomer Holly Mae Brood’s Tara. The ending has a sense of predictability to it, and despite some AI put in the film, it still shows Dick Maas as a solid genre director.