De 12 van Oldenheim (2017) User Reviews

Would have been terrific if it had been half as long

[Laight · 6/10 · 15 November 2020]

There's so much to like here -- arresting characters, evocative atmosphere, excellent acting, and an absolutely terrific start to the story. But.... given that the mystery, when solved, isn't all that interesting, there's no justification for the many hours of red herrings and silly conversations you have to get through in order to reach the end. Only recommended if you are patient, have a lot of time to spare and you really like hearing the Dutch language.

Holds Your Attention

[aphillips-43057 · 8/10 · 28 July 2019]

This 12-episode series was a pleasant surprise for my wife and me. Good acting and a well-constructed plot hold your attention throughout the series. There is some believable detective work throughout although progress is slow early on. The conclusion is believable. I don't know what all the negative reviews are about. We are giving it a fairly high rating and would definitely recommend it.

Good Old-Fashioned Mystery Whodunnit

[melixxajg · 8/10 · 21 May 2020]

Murder lurks under the surface of a small Dutch town. The plot is like a classic suspense movie's and brings to my mind Ten Little Indians, The Mousetrap and Murder on The Orient Express. If you pay close attention you might suspect someone--and things are a little too neatly explained in the final episode, but there are lots of quirky personalities and possible murderers in this village with idyllic scenery where everyone knows everyone else's business. Main players do a good job of acting. Very enjoyable!

Nice change of pace mystery

[wvmcl · 8/10 · 19 June 2020]

If you are not judging by some impossible standard, you will enjoy this village mystery, currently available on Acorn in the U.S. It's good to see a Dutch production of a story like this in which the characters mostly talk and act like actual Dutch people and not to some generic standard for the international market.

Yes, not many of the characters are "likable", but who the heck determined that characters in a crime or mystery story should be likable? And some of the plot twists are far-fetched, but again that's an artifact of the genre. The ending may be a bit too much like another famous story, but I'll admit I didn't see it coming.

The follow-on "Schouwendam 12" is just as good, or maybe better.

Superior entertainment

[mybeloved-bb · 9/10 · 6 March 2020]

I stayed thoroughly engaged in this slow burn series with its building maze of mystery.. at first I didn't think it would be any good, too slow.. I tried it again releasing all expectations and judgements... such as what wasn't perfect etc I became engaged in a totally new storyline puzzling mystery.. as the characters developed & I observed the nature of this small town I was intrigued and found myself looking for moments in my day where I could watch a little bit more.. I loved it wasn't all faked it felt like this was real in the way this town communicates with one another and a more harsh way with family members I thought the casting of the actors was perfect I highly recommend this series if you like dark slow burn murder mystery and honestly I had no idea who was behind the murders until it was revealed.. I had no clue.. it was great ! Very entertaining I loved it!

Kept going downhill

[Isee-stupid-people · 6/10 · 14 October 2021]

Was good. Slow burn but good. Then Nina came back and 1st the director can't get enough of her and 2nd she can't act.

The part were she was so affected by her kidnapping so she can only answer with head movements us fine but every 3rd or 4th question she has no problem answering with full sentences...and her acting skills are about those of a 12 month old child...was 9 until then and now a 5.

AN EERIE TRIP DOWN A RABBIT HOLE OF MYSTERY

[dirkdirkreedreed · 10/10 · 4 April 2020]

I thought this was brilliantly done - a weird, suspenseful journey filled with twists and turns that had me baffled right through to the very end. I'm frankly shocked by the negative reviews posted here. Of course, even Beethoven had his critics: after a performance of his Symphony No. 7, he was described as being "ripe for the madhouse" and that he "must have been drunk when he wrote it." What were those critics thinking? And what were these reviewers thinking? Forget the naysayers - this is an excellent, brain-stimulating series. Bravo!

I love everything about this show except for...

[leemitchel-15605 · 8/10 · 24 December 2021]

I was glued to this show! I loved it. Especially Peggy and sharif. Its great.... Until i noticed that nine didn't seem to care about her missing mother and brother???? All she wanted was her boyfriend...really???

Pointless

[callalily-61774 · 2/10 · 25 March 2019]

I thought was going to be an atmospheric thriller, but in the end it was just slooow, and nothing much, aside from misdirection, happened. The reveal at the end was so trite. Everyone dies, there is no real reason for it. People were mean to the killer's mother because they felt like she conned people with a pyramid scheme of some sort. For all the empty hours that is never fully explained. Basically she thought she was helping people (yeah ok), or didn't know better, so that should have excused it all, and everyone should have just treated her as though nothing happened when she got out of jail. The killer was a therapist, you'd think he would have understood why that goes against human nature, and never would have happened. Because the people were justified in feeling that way. So instead of moving, he just kills 12 people in retribution. Makes total sense. Then you have the cop who just tells his whole case to the MC Peggy, which is rediculous. And Peggy actually guessed the motive behind the killings earlier on, and was brushed off. I don't blame them for not taking that seriously, it's a stupid reason to kill people. And Peggy kept having boring flashbacks, which was just a part of all the pointless character development that didn't make up for the sad plot, so by the end I still didn't really care about any of the characters. I was maybe a little sad that they were all really dead, but it was mostly because of how pointless it all was, and how I'd just wasted my time. Only a tiny bit was because I'd come to know and care about the characters. I also couldn't remember any of their names, and that's never a good sign. But the biggest travesty of all was Peggy's pants. Every. single. pair.

Too many forks in the road

[chinabeach4 · 5/10 · 3 March 2019]

I thought I was going to like this going into the second episode but I've come to the conclusion this is not making much sense. There's far too many disappearances, the investigation team is one detective and one cop. When offered more officers he turns it down. He's done nothing to build any suspense or intrigue. There's hardly any investigating going on. There's so many sub plots that I suspect are supposed to add suspicion but are not connected at all! There's not enough suspects and the story line now looks like it's going to be aliens that are to blame. The crop design, and the returned girl with the sign branded on her. Could be a mad scientist experimenting with drugs but we haven't seen him yet, only the drug dealer. I'm disappointed that I don't have any feelings for any of the characters. The mother of the girl who disappears is like a stone. She goes jogging the next day and goes to be with her lover! I could criticize this a lot more but I won't waste more time on this. I've only finished eps 6 and I feel like skipping the rest and just watching the last one. Guess that would imply this series is just not that gripping, or thought out very well. Too bad.

LABORIOUS

[khhorstman · 2/10 · 8 March 2019]

In addition to what has already been said, the entire series was overacted and histrionic. I found myself laughing in the most inappropriate scenes. Once committed, however, I had to follow through. The lead actress was so annoying, and a lead detective who would allow her the liberties she took would not be seen in a US production. I gave it 2 stars for the cinematography.

Just watch the first and last episode

[qui_j · 2/10 · 27 February 2019]

This is not a well thought out series in that the plot is full of holes, with events occurring to fit the story rather than to be logical. Watching all 12 hours will waste 12 hours of your life that you will never get back. The story drags on and on to the point of being tiresome. The acting is not great, the characters all unlikable, and there are so many subplots within the series that one almost needs a spreadsheet to keep track of who's who.

Too long and too dumb

[marvgossett · 5/10 · 15 April 2019]

This could be way shorter and a lot smarter. Nice to see that other countries make dumb crime shows too. Folks just mysteriously disappear with no witnesses and no explanation. When you finally reach the last episode you come away with feeling used. Be grateful there were no commercials or you might really feel uses. Spoiler: no supernatural elements involved which would help a lot. The killer is known all along but the police don't follow up. Bodies are buried in a grave site easily discoverable by anyone. Only first victim warrants a search by the police apparently and other people who disappear do t generate much interest in the local community

Emotionless Mystery

[callladd · 2/10 · 31 May 2019]

At the outset I thought this would be similar to Broadchurch, unfortunately that wasn't the case at all. The first episode was good but with each new disappearance I began to focus on the negatives.

Why didn't Sharif have an entire team working on this case rather than just the one local cop? Why wasn't Sharif fired sooner? All he did was show up after the next victim was abducted and then head back to his makeshift office to stare at his victim board. And, why didn't they search all the outbuildings in the village?

Then there was the acting. Maybe the director instructed everyone to show as little emotion as possible in an effort to keep the viewers guessing. The blank faces and lack of emotion did lead me to suspect everyone at one point or another but it also made it hard to care about anyone. When it looked like the answer might be alien abduction I thought that if nothing else, a sci-fi twist would explain why the people seemed like inhabitants of a Stepford village.

As for the actual ending, I'm not sure if alien abduction would have been any worse. I'd hoped the missing people were being held hostage but no, they were all dead because the town shunned the shrink's ex-con mother. What a waste of time.

twelve (hours) disappeared

[FieCrier · 3/10 · 7 March 2019]

The production values are very good: cinematography, editing, audio - acting and writing are decent most of the time, aside from one character whose temper is repeatedly violent - it's hard to believe he wouldn't face consequences for that early on. I loved seeing the Dutch scenery and buildings. It's fairly involving, up to a point. I had high hopes for it.

The ending, however, is incredibly unsatisfying. Implausible and forced, it made the whole series become a waste of time. Even the ending itself is a waste of time, laboriously going back through every disappearance even though once the explanation is supplied it is totally unnecessary to do that. I certainly hope more Dutch series will make it to video streaming services available in the US, but please don't waste viewers' time again with such an abortion of a conclusion!

Exasperating

[Pegasus-10 · 4/10 · 4 May 2020]

Too drawn out and so many of the characters act irrationally and absurdly that it tries your patience. If this is how Dutch people act no wonder they lost their empire. A series of disappearances begin and yet people still wander around alone -- and one even goes jogging at 2am -- and don't tell police some vital facts but follow up on their own. Plus, the whole backstory of Peggy's travails in Iraq stopped the narrative cold. Interesting as a look at a Dutch village, but not as a drama.

So Lame

[tkbezerra-799-808289 · 1/10 · 30 July 2020]

So you live in a tiny town where people keep vanishing. Would anyone keep wandering around alone there? Go sit by the canal where their sister was abducted? Go running by themselves at night? No! This is a situation for the Buddy System.

Also, if you remember the big twist from The Sixth Sense, you can figure who the bad guy is fairly early on.

WTF

[jimche · 5/10 · 12 October 2021]

Please, someone explain to me why the large greenhouse was never searched earlier in the series??? Isn't that the job of the police, to do thorough searches, especially large unused structures?

Though I did enjoy the show, I found most of the characters less than likable and a bit dense. Best to watch no more than one episode a day to avoid irritation.

I did enjoy the scenery as well.

Don't Get Sucked In!

[billmarsano · 4/10 · 7 April 2019]

Spoilers ahead-actually, defensive warnings. A small Dutch town is terrorized by mysterious and always unwitnessed disappearances. A cop from Amsterdam is brought in. Also rung in is Peggy, local daughter who herself mysteriously disappeared several years before. Every episode throws suspicion on a new resident, but Frits, dad of the first vic is given a chance to go psycho several times, probably to keep the scriptwriters awake. Only one of the 12 vics (the first one) returns-alive but mute. Promising clues appear by the long ton; none pans out. It's a national scandal! Finally the top cop is kicked out but of course he continues investigating on the sly. And of course he and Peggy, whom he threatened with arrest for interference at the outset, become allies. At length we learn the motive for all this; it is ridiculous and non-credible. After all the red herrings that have been thrown about there is as lot of housekeeping to be done at the end to tie everything up; maybe that's what this goes to 13 rather than the customary 12 eps. And the ultimate clue is discovered in the finale in a building clearly visible to the but for some reason never searched. A neat row of fresh graves is clearly visible, as are the tools that ID the killer. The acting is on a par with the writing. Our two leads are so wooden you could count their growth rings; you could carve then in to camp stools or use them to finish the basement. In short, you can do just about anything but believe them.

I agree with everyone, pretty bad

[zuzumamu · 1/10 · 23 October 2019]

This is a really dumb soapy disappointing drone of a story. Why I kept going on with it I can't say except I couldn't find anything else, and watched while I ate lunch or had tea in evening. meh! I think I watched to hear Dutch and see Stuff From Europe mostly. The most fascinating moment for me, was when a large blue and white graphic poster came into view in episode 7 when the puling teen and the sleezeball therapist are talking in their house. I recognize the artist but cannot for the life of me remember who the artist is, the era, or the nationality! Anyone???

Wished I'd read User reviews first

[prc541-130-871754 · 4/10 · 1 February 2022]

First exciting few episodes ran a bit long. Last three seemed filmed in slow motion so I had to speed through to finish. Only wish I never started to watch this interesting cast. The chaotic direction ultimately grew too boring for me and no longer could tolerate scenes that prolonged the conclusion.

Cast with chaotic direction.

Disastrous Ending

[itriatay995 · 5/10 · 24 February 2024]

The series start slowly and then with the second disappearance at the swimming pool things get crazy in the small town of Oldheim. Almost each episode there is one person missing and the numbers increase upto 12 missing people. Nevertheless, one returns back totally shellshocked and mute. The series make you addicted to it and you want to learn what is the ending. I believed even that there is something supernatural going on in the town so it was that much well directed UNTIL the HORRIBLE ENDING! We are talking about a guy who killed 11 people with a remorse and he did these cold blooded. He killed even his brother and brother in law and he even allowed his mother to suicide. We are talking about a criminally insane guy who would just let go a woman that he has no connection that he asssaulted before and came back to kill her but the cop saved her. There is no even single logic in this ending ! WHAT A WASTE OF TIME DIRECTORS ? Even if he is totally lunatic he would never put the pistol on the table and release her to shoot himself. This is impossible with a criminally insane guy who has terrorized a whole town and made it evacuated and killed 11 people and let his own mother suicide !