- Year
- 1965
- Country
- West Germany
- Runtime
- 87 min
- Director
- Harald Reinl
- Updated
- 9 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (51/100)
The Sinister Monk
A whip-wielding monk killing heiresses. Closest the krimi got to giallo.
One of the krimis that most resembles what Italy would do next. A whip-wielding killer in monk's robes murders the heiresses standing between a hidden villain and a fortune, and the film has more overt sadism and a stronger central menace than the average Wallace adaptation.
The theatrical costume, the elaborate method and the inheritance plot are the direct ancestors of the giallo's black-gloved killers. Klaus Kinski, a krimi regular, lurks in the cast. It is one of the more lurid entries.
The missing link between the German krimi and the Italian giallo, in one film.
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Filed alongside
▶ watchcultThe Black Abbot
The standard-issue Wallace krimi. Hood, abbey, inheritance, fog.
▶ watchcultThe Inn on the River
The Rialto Wallace machine at full tilt: fog, a harpoon and Klaus Kinski looking guilty.
▶ watchcultThe Dead Eyes of London
Blind killers, insurance fraud, and the best fog in the series.
▶ watchcultThe Creature with the Blue Hand
Kinski playing both twins and a killer's claw that snaps shut like a bear trap. The krimi going out swinging.
▶ watchcultThe Fellowship of the Frog
The first Rialto Wallace krimi, and the reason the other thirty exist.
▶ watchcultThe Indian Scarf
Ten heirs in a Scottish castle, strangled one at a time. Kinski included.