Experiencing Interruptions?

The London Monster

  • Dennis Mohr
    Director
    Mugshot, The Ravenite
  • Calvin Campbell
    Writer
    Reflections On A 'Thoughtographic' Mind
  • Dennis Mohr
    Producer
    Remembering Arthur, Disfarmer, Mugshot, The Ravenite
  • Calvin Campbell
    Producer
    Reflections On A 'Thoughtographic' Mind
  • Dr. Jan Bondeson
    Key Cast
    "Special Consultant"
  • Diarmid Mogg
    Key Cast
    "Narrator "
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    History, True Crime
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English, French
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Dennis Mohr

Dennis is an award-winning documentary film producer and director, and founder of Public Pictures. His documentary, MUGSHOT, premiered at Hot Docs in 2014, was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing in a Documentary Program or Series, and received a Yorkton Film Festival, Golden Sheaf award for Best Arts and Culture Documentary. Mohr produced the acclaimed feature documentary Remembering Arthur about filmmaker Arthur Lipsett, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2007. In 2011 Dennis produced Disfarmer: A Portrait of America, about the life and work of eccentric Arkansas portrait photographer, Mike Disfarmer. The Ravenite, co-produced and co-directed by Mohr, received the Best Mid Length Documentary award at DOC LA 2018.

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Director Statement

In 1790, nearly a century before Jack the Ripper stalked the streets of London, another predator held sway: a bizarre serial attacker known as the London Monster assaulted more than 50 women in the capital. Since this kind of sadistic behaviour was quite unheard-of at the time, there was general outrage among the Londoners, and the capital’s female world was in a turmoil.

During his reign of terror, the Monster became a psychopathic celebrity, inspiring newspapers, caricatures and plays. After a reward of £100 had been posted for the capture and conviction of the Monster, a veritable mass hysteria reigned throughout London. Innocent men were beaten up by the mob after being pointed out as the Monster by mischievous people, and the fashionable ladies did not dare venture out into the streets without wearing copper petticoats or other forms of protective clothing.

The hunt for the Monster culminated in the arrest of a young Welshman named Rhynwick Williams. He was convicted in a trial that served as a process of exorcism: finally, London was free of its Monster. The story has remarkable parallels to our own time: a police force unable to find its man, a tabloid press frenzy that sold newspapers and created a climate of fear, and a need to convict someone at all costs, even if the evidence was questionable.