Dick Maas: Essential Films

Dick Maas is one of the best-known filmmakers of Netherlands. This guide follows 8 of the films viewers know best, from 1983 to 2016, in the order they were made, so you can see how the work developed.

1
The Lift 1983Dick Maas · IMDb 6.1A lift technician finds himself drawn into a web of mystery and peril as he investigates the perplexing deadly accidents occurring in the elevators of a new office building.
Next: Flodder
Maas followed his killer-elevator horror debut with something completely different: Flodder, a broad comedy about a noisy family dumped in a posh suburb. It was a lighter, more populist change of direction, and it became a lasting Dutch favourite.
2
Flodder 1986Dick Maas · IMDb 6.7A low-class antisocial family ends up in a rich upper-class neighborhood and causes all sorts of trouble.
Next: Amsterdamned
Maas then returned to genre thrills with Amsterdamned, a slasher-style mystery set in the city's canals. Where Flodder was broad comedy, this is a stylish, suspenseful thriller that uses Amsterdam itself as its menacing setting.
3
Amsterdamned 1988Dick Maas · IMDb 6.6A mysterious diver hiding in Amsterdam's canal system embarks on a rampage of gruesome murders, terrifying city officials and leaving few clues for the city's best detective, who doesn't suspect that both his new girlfriend and twelve-year-old daughter may be closer than he is to finding the killer.
Next: Flodder Does Manhattan!
Four years later Maas went back to the Flodders, this time shipping them to New York. It is a bigger, more international comedy with a higher budget feel, though audiences and reviewers rated it below the original.
4
Flodder Does Manhattan! 1992Dick Maas · IMDb 5.7The mayor of Sunny Dale see a chance to get rid of the Flodder family: They send the asocial bunch for an international exchange to New York.
Next: Flodder 3
Flodder 3 brings the family back to their Dutch neighbourhood for a third round of the same formula. Having tried abroad, Maas retreats to familiar ground, but the series was showing its age, and ratings slipped again.
5
Flodder 3 1995Dick Maas · IMDb 5.5Back from their trip abroad, the family must meet the people of the neighborhood while preparing for the 25th anniversary of Zonnedael. Ma falls in love with a bum that is not exactly what he seems to be.
Next: Down
After a six-year pause Maas revisited his own debut, remaking the killer-elevator idea in English and in New York. Down is a Hollywood-style thriller rather than a Dutch comedy, but it was received much more coolly than The Lift.
6
Down 2001Dick Maas · IMDb 4.7After the elevators at a New York City skyscraper begin inexplicably malfunctioning, putting its passengers at risk, mechanic Mark Newman and reporter Jennifer Evans begin separate investigations.
Next: Saint
Nine years passed before Saint, a Dutch-language horror film that turns Sinterklaas into a murderous bishop. Back home, Maas mixes dark folklore with his old taste for gory genre fun, aimed at a holiday audience.
7
Saint 2010Dick Maas · IMDb 5.6A horror film that depicts St. Nicholas as a murderous bishop who kidnaps and murders children when there is a full moon on December 5.
Next: Prey (2016)
Prey is a creature feature in which a lion stalks Amsterdam, echoing the way Amsterdamned made the city itself a hunting ground. Six years after Saint, Maas stays in horror, now aiming at a bigger and more mainstream action-adventure feel.
8
Prey (2016) 2016Dick Maas · IMDb 5.3A zoo veterinarian gets caught up in a grisly adventure as she finds herself leading the city-wide hunt for a monstrous lion terrorizing the Dutch capital of Amsterdam.

Ratings and vote counts come from IMDb. The films were chosen by how widely they have been watched and rated.