Der unheimliche Mönch

The best Edgar Wallace film adaptations in the West German film industry come from Alfred VOHRER, Jürgen ROLAND and the ACADEMY AWARD nominee Harald REINL (nominated in 1971 for his documentary film EREMNERUNGEN AN DIE ZUKUNFT).

In 1965, Harald REINL made the contribution DER UNHEIMLICHE MÖNCH, which with its suggestive black and white images became a highlight of the long-running series (1959 - 1973). An inheritance case, a dysfunctional family, an eerie castle (shot at Hastenbeck Castle near Hameln), a murderer disguised as a monk and many beautiful women! That's all it takes for a typical horror thriller from West German assembly line production.

REINL's second wife Karin DOR plays the young heiress Gwendolin Gilmore, who returns to the family castle after years and is immediately confronted with inheritance disputes and dark family secrets. Her aunt (Ilse STEPPAT) runs a girls' boarding school in the castle, so the people there are exclusively beautiful young ladies (Uschi GLAS / Uta LEVKA / Dunja RAJTER). An evil uncle (Siegfried LOWITZ), a crazy tenant (Rudolf SCHÜNDLER), a pushy janitor (Eddi ARENT) and of course the murderous monk round off the gruesome events. Inspector Bratt (Harald LEIPNITZ) and the scatterbrained Sir John (Siegfried SCHÜRENBERG) have their hands full trying to solve the case.

This horror thriller thrives on the spooky atmosphere, which is expertly created by the old master director REINL. A Wallace thriller like something out of a picture book, which lives enormously from the black and white images (from 1966 Edgar Wallace was in color!) and the outstanding acting ensemble. No wonder that actors like Karin DOR (YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE / TOPAZ), Ilse STEPPAT (ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE) and Rudolf SCHÜNDLER (THE EXORCIST / SUSPIRIA) have been cast in international films in the future.

An exciting and entertaining climax to the long-running Edgar Wallace series of successes in the West German film industry!

This is a solid middle-period entry in the long-running German "Krimi" series, based on the ingenious thrillers of Edgar Wallace. In this case, the film-makers were taking the plot seriously and not trying (much) to dazzle the viewer with the nifty cinematic trickery and vivid violence that would become the hallmark of the series. Fortunately, the plot is a strong one, involving the usual murderous infighting over an inheritance, a girls' boarding school, and the wonderfully avenging titular character who breaks necks with the visually impressive snap of his whip. The style fits best into the Eurospy genre of the 60s, which was director Reinl's forte. Besides the monk, there is a weird caretaker who keeps pigeons and who casts creepy facial masks of people at the school, which turn into death masks after the inevitable murder of their models (shades of "I Bury the Living"). A poisoned water pistol serves as one girl's defense from prospective attackers. Karin Dor, the director's statuesque wife, resembles Barbara Steele in the lead role, and series favourite Eddie Arent, normally the effective comic relief, has a quite unexpected role to play here. More effort than usual is spent establishing the Thames-side background, though the German origin is unmistakable. Best of all is the wild lounge score by retro-hip composer Peter Thomas, with chimes and cascading organ swells (à la Vic Mizzy of "Munsters" fame) to highlight the monk's appearances. A lurid-colour sequel, "The Monk With The Whip", is much more campy and flamboyant, in keeping with the later efforts in the series directed by Alfred Vohrer.

This 34 year old german movie probably is not a timeless piece of art, yet it still is very entertaining. Check out the music, too!!!

Among the Wallace movie series during the 60s this is one of the best entries.

Gwendolin (Karin Dor) inherited a fortune from her grandfather, but doesn't know it yet. Her greedy relatives try to get her out of the way, but that's not as easy as it seems, when a hooded monk sneaks through the night and kills people with his whip. Is it a ghost, a psychopathic killer, or a man with a secret plan? Harald Leipnitz plays the inspector investigating on this case, whilst one of the most famous inspectors of German TV history, Siegfried Lowitz, plays the villain this time. The 20th movie of the Edgar Wallace series (which began only 6 years earlier with "Der Frosch mit der Maske") was the last one in black & white. Somehow the later color movies didn't have the same atmosphere anymore and ran out of ideas. "Der unheimliche Mönch", however, is spooky, foggy fun and absolutely worthy to close this chapter of the classic series.

Figuring out the plot of a Krimi-flick based on the work of Edgar Wallace can somewhat be compared to throwing a puzzle of a 1,000 pieces on the floor, and then putting it together without looking at the image on the cover of the box! You don't know where to start and keep stumbling into new puzzle pieces that are seemingly not connected to anything else. Every Krimi is complex, but "The Sinister Monk" is without a doubt one of the most complex thrillers in the entire Edgar Wallace collector's box. The plot really goes in all directions, there are a lot of characters, several topics and themes, and a few twists and surprises at the end.

The story starts traditionally Gothic, with the death of an old (and rich) patriarch who removes his four children from his will and leaves all his possessions to granddaughter Gwendolin. A premise like this always works, especially when there's thunder and lightning outside, and when the notary ruthlessly gets murdered. The large house also serves as a boarding school for girls, and they are kidnapped every time they make trips to London. Communication is done through carrier pigeons, girls defend themselves with water guns filled with burning acid, several people want to kill Gwendolin, but anyone who wants to harm her is killed by a monk who is very handy with a whip! With one blow he/she strangles and hangs the victims, nice trick!

As you can see, there is a lot to eventfulness in "The Sinister Monk", and the experienced director Harald Reinl keeps the pace quite high. There are many action-packed moments, exciting scenes, gruesome murders, and beautiful girls. There is hardly even time for comic relief, and that's positive because this usually bothers me in Krimi movies. Eddi Arent - who usually plays the klutz on duty - does walk around in the story, but his role is rather serious this time. The only lame remarks come from Siegfried Schürenberg as the dimwit Scotland Yard superintendent. The swinging and slightly annoying soundtrack is also included for free, obviously.