The Ripper speaks. Are you ready to sit in his head for 85 minutes?
Peter: A Study for a Portrait of a Serial Killer is a feature film that delivers uncompromising performances and rare, shocking archive to reveal for the first time ever the astonishing true story of The Yorkshire Ripper. Exploring his childhood, the sadistic murders of 13 women and his ongoing psychological treatment, the audience journey into the dark and twisted mind of Britain s most notorious serial killer. Psychiatrists say he is a dangerous paranoid schizophrenic, many think he is simply evil; this film challenges the audience to make up their own mind.
Acting
Kissack's chilling physical transformation into Sutcliffe's dead eyes
Direction
Kite's unflinching use of real archive that blurs fiction and documentary
Director
Skip Kite
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sutcliffe was still alive in Broadmoor when this filmed; the production had to legally verify he couldn't profit, making this one of the most legally complicated UK indie releases of the 2010s.
Released during a true crime boom that fetishized killers, Kite's film was deliberately anti-cathartic— critics called it 'punishment cinema' and meant it as praise.
GB
