Maas achieved fame after the success of his music videos for the Dutch band Golden Earring, including "Twilight Zone" and the controversial "When the Lady Smiles," and his films , Amsterdamned and Flodder in the 1980s. Maas also directed the controversial Saint Nicolas slasher Sint (Saint Nick) and one episode of the TV series Young Indiana Jones. The film Karakter won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998. Maas served as executive producer. The film was produced by his production company First Floor Features, founded in 1984. He left the company, which he started with Laurens Geels, in 2002.
His 2016 film Prey became an unexpected box office hit in China cinemas in 2019. It is also the first Dutch film to secure a wide theatrical release in China. The film was retitled as Violent Fierce Lion.
An authorized documentary about his career titled De Dick Maas Methode premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival on September 27, 2020, in Utrecht.
In 1998 he wrote his first thriller, titled Salvo . In 2016 followed by a book in which he wrote about his career as a filmmaker . The Naked Witness is the title of his 2021 book based on his 1988 film Amsterdamned. According to Maas it is the first in a series of books based on this film.
In December 2023 Maas announced that he is working on a sequel to his 1988 film Amsterdamned. Filming started in September of 2024. The film was released in December 2025. Huub Stapel again plays the leading role. On the first day the film attracted 8820 paying visitors, making it the most successful opening for a Dutch film in 2025.
