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.