Eminent Monsters traces the origins of modern torture, examining early experiments with sensory deprivation, drugs, and de-patterning. It describes the work of the eminent psychiatrist Ewen Cameron (1901-1967), whose notorious Montreal experiments received funding from the Canadian government and the CIA. The documentary also shows how the fate of the fourteen Hooded Men in Northern Ireland helped set the stage for enhanced interrogation at black sites in the War on Terror.