The Sinister Monk 1965 Based on the Edgar Wallace play The Terror, screenplay by Jochen Joachim and Fred Denger, directed by Harald Reinl. The Terror came out in 1927 and it's based on Edgar's own 1926 novel The Black Abbot. I recently saw the 1963 German film The Black Abbot and it was quite entertaining. There was also a 1938 adaptation, called The Terror, that was made by Elstree Studios.
As you might guess The Sinister Monk features a whip cracking, murderous black robed monk like figure. He's terrorizing a girl's school and the family that runs it.
That's the family, mom really runs the school, she's flanked by her two sons and the guy on the left is her brother who's a scumbag lawyer. Mom's dad has died and the scumbag lawyer has gotten the only copy of the will. It leaves everything to a granddaughter. The scumbag is willing to tear it up for most of the money, the family are mad but scumbag has power over them because they are creeps themselves.
Soon the murder's start and the police stop over to have a look around. At first they don't believe the monk sightings but once one of their own gets murdered in a rather unusual way they soon change their tune. Then it's all cat and mouse as they chase around the countryside trying to get one up on the monk.
I'll pretty much watch any production based on an Edgar Wallace story. Often they are quite entertaining but this German adaptation is well above average. It's got a good script, cast and sense of humor. Nice production values too, they films in Germany and London. Worth a look.
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