Experiencing Interruptions?

Shadow of The Monarch

​​​A seemingly homeless man who catches butterflies in the park witnesses a gangland shooting. He's dragged off into a tunnel to be killed, passes out only to awaken to a bloody nightmare. The cops rule it a drug deal gone bad releasing the Butterfly Man. Soon the CIA is on their doorstep looking for a rogue psychopathic agent who disappeared 15 years ago and the only person who has possibly seen him is the Butterfly Man.

  • Randy Kent
    Director
    Life of Lemon, The Perfect House, Road King, Twas The Night Before Christmas,
  • John Luksetich
    Director
    Ugly Shoes, Different Eye, Water, Interns of Newport Beach
  • John Luksetich
    Writer
    Ugly Shoes, The Accountants, Different Eye, Water
  • Jewels Lubin
    Producer
    Late Bloomer's (The Chloe and Sage Chronicles), Different Eye, Ugly Shoes, Water, Olde News, The Accountants, Interns of Newport Beach
  • John Luksetich
    Producer
    Ugly Shoes, Different Eye, Water, The Accountants, The Interns of Newport Beach
  • Blanca Avalos
    Key Cast
    Oil & Vinegar, Family, The Benways of Baltimore, The Famous Jane, About Face, Brad Bliss
  • Stef Dawson
    Key Cast
    The Hunger Games Mockingjay 1 & 2, Creedmoria, The Lennon Report, The Paper Store, Painted Women, Cleverman
  • Bill Suplee
    Key Cast
    Knife to a Gunfight, My Name is Earl, Love or War, How I Met Your Mother
  • Derrel Maury
    Key Cast
    Joanie Love Chachi, Happy Days, Wastland, I Met a Producer and Moved to LA
  • Jordan Preston
    Key Cast
    Nowhereland, Death Pool, Inheritance, Glimpse
  • Benjamin Sandipe
    Key Cast
    The Redemption Hit, The Last Cry, Dark Claw, Minds, Adolescents
  • Paul Statman
    Key Cast
    Oceans Rising, 96 Souls, The Coed and The Zombie Stoner, Inherited Insanity
  • Marty Hrejia
    Key Cast
    It's a Beautiful Day, Twice Blessed, 5 Minutes, The Infamous Exploits of Jack West
  • Allison Lani
    Key Cast
    Hazard Jack, Asphalt Angels, Burning Bridges, Powers
  • Dorant Fowler,
    Key Cast
    Senior Moment, The Joint, Qualia, Enchanted Affairs
  • Glenn Ratcliff
    Key Cast
    Happy Hunting, The Young and The Wrestlers, Sex, Marriage and Infidelity, Merry Ex-Mas
  • John Luksetich
    Key Cast
    Goldilocks, Conspiracy, 1000 Ways to Die: Mark The Spy, The Accountants
  • Sean Ching
    Key Cast
    Imperial Odyssey, Repeat Offenders, Stringendo, A Reason to Live
  • Ambokile Kokayi
    Key Cast
    Under a Blood Sky, Heavy Makeup, The Accountants,
  • Lord Kayson
    Key Cast
    Painkiller, LightSpeed, My Crazy Ex, Cloakers
  • Lejon Stewart
    Key Cast
    Pirates of The Carribean:On Stranger Tides, The Curse of The Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest, Adolescence
  • Terry Opp,
    Key Cast
    The Unhandymen, Nightmare Wedding, Natural Born Filmmakers, Dead Maker
  • Cassandra Ezinne Nwokah
    Key Cast
    Sahdow of The Monarch, Stage Actress
  • Iyad Hajjaj
    Key Cast
    Dreams I Never Had, Escape Room, Triangles, Tie The Knot
  • Drey Gayner
    Cinematography By
    Maybe Someday, The Rufian, Twas The Night Before Christmas, Me Without You
  • Amie Doherty
    Music By
    Sundogs, Fargo, The Night Of, Shadow Hunters, Extant
  • Paul Buhl
    Film Editing By
    The Recall, Walk of Fame, Oxy-Morons, Faith In The Big House
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Psychological Action Thriller
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 55 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 15, 2017
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Canon 5D
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.40
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Randy Kent, John Luksetich

Randy Kent just wrapped production on a one-of-a-kind experiment - directing a feature film over Skype from Los Angeles that is shooting on location in Bangalore, India. The love-thriller, ROAD KING, is breaking new ground in a number of ways and a late 2017 release across Indian and US markets is planned.

An Atlanta native who, at a young age, saw the great Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live and in “48 HOURS” and realized what his goal in life was to be - watch movies and Saturday Night Live. This constant consumption of movies and television caused him to wake up one day and say “Hey, maybe I can actually do that!” And, some years later, he did just that by moving to Hollywood with a big gleam the eye and that eye trained primarily on a big acting career (while writing screenplays on the side).

He has made over a dozen short films and commercials along with 6 feature films over the years, from writing and producing, to directing, co-directing and/or editing, Randy has done it all.

Kent shot his first feature film in 2002 - LIFE, DEATH & MINI-GOLF. The music-based drama was entirely self-financed and filmed in only three locations over a 14-day period. The cast of friends is noted for being the first feature film role of comedy star, Kristen Wiig.

Another Kent project, TIMMY, THE BAG BOY, is a sweet little short film that played at film festivals throughout the country and won the Audience Choice Award for "Best Short Film" at the Kern County Film Festival. The short is being used as a pitch project to raise awareness (and of course, money) for the feature version.

In the Summer of 2009, Kent produced and directed the indie film, LIFE OF LEMON in Los Angeles. The movie stars comedian Barry Kneller, Dan Lauria, Beth Grant, Willie C. Carpenter, Rachel Miner, John Farley and Mimi Kennedy. The movie recently won a Silver Ace Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival and is now for rent/sale on most VOD/DVD platforms.

THE PERFECT HOUSE, a co-production/co-directing deal with Gratwick Films, is now out on Bluray/DVD and on several VOD platforms. This extreme horror anthology in the truest sense of the word has racked up numerous statues including, Best Director, Best Picture and several Best Actor awards across the country.

Randy just completed 3 short films over the course of 6 months and is currently wrapping post-production on the action/thriller, SHADOW OF THE MONARCH. This independent 'Bourne Identity meets Forrest Gump' thriller will showcase some new forms of martial arts technics and will be released in early 2015.

Other projects Randy is attached to direct and produce include a co-production/directing deal in Beijing, China, the character-driven indie thriller, ROAD TO ROSARITO; the mystical 1980s adventure homage, THE WIZARD PROJECT; a TV show & feature film based on the mock band, DRUNK N STUPID; The medical drama, LIFE & DEATH; And the feature length version of TIMMY, THE BAG BOY.

And to top that all off, when Randy is in between narrative projects he runs the commercial production company, ZEROPOINT30 PRODUCTIONS, where he writes, produces and directs commercials and promos for smaller and bigger businesses. Clients include DIRECTV, East West Bank, Lunex Telecom, Naturalena and Seafood City Supermarkets.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

John Luksetich, Co-Director, Creator, Writer
MK Ultra, Mind Control, Multiple Personality Disorder - terms triggered my memory of popular TV Shows like Stranger Things or X-files and major thriller films like the Bourne Identity series. Years ago I researched the real MK Ultra for my Cable TV show and discovered the 1977 Church Commission investigation of the human experiments conducted. The program was shut down as an allegedly new program using children, was started code name “Monarch." Like the “Monarch” butterflies my father and I chased when I was a child. What was MK Ultra’s goal? To create the perfect super agent before the Russians. The result: mentally unstable survivors - their minds shattered pieces, fragmented memories - at any moment a sound, a word, an image could trigger them into a nightmare they couldn’t control. How do I know? I interviewed several alleged MK Ultra Monarch survivors before my Cable TV show which was canceled and around the time my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. One of the few memories he clearly recalled was catching Monarchs. Coincidence? There are no coincidences.

I knew I had a script to write and a feature film to create, Shadow of the Monarch, it starts out as a confusing violent action thriller, a montage mystery of unrelated scenes pieced together like a puzzle, connected by sights, sounds, words similar to MPD triggers. Jarring gray flashbacks allude to the lead character's tortured past. Three separate factions like three personalities; CIA, Gangsters, Police; gradually are connected through their interaction with the butterfly man witness till all their ties to MK Ultra are revealed. The butterfly becomes a symbol throughout the film for freedom from Mind Control. A freedom which is taken away by the gangsters, cops, and CIA from BM. Every character in the film was carefully named for a butterfly or moth mimicking its colors and its behavior. The agent's poisonous butterflies, the cops harmless comical ones and the gangsters - moths cause their darkness to come out at night.

The agent’s fight scenes are fast, precise like in real life using at times ordinary objects as weapons: toothbrush, book, pencil, whereas the gangsters have more brutal brawls. Humor is interjected at times of intense violence to lighten the mood and contrast the darkness of the film. The massacre scenes of MK 13 are left unrevealed until the end - viewed through the eyes of Butterfly Man, whether it is MPD, DID, Alzheimer's – it all comes down to memories. Trying to remember the good, forget the bad. The constant fear we can't remember, don't want to remember, confusion about what is real and what is not. “Shadow of the Monarch” creates a memory you will never forget.