A former CIA agent goes rogue and leaves death and destruction in his wake. A detective must stop at nothing to end the madness.

This is the plot for “Dormant,” an action-suspense movie shot and produced by local artists. Julian Jay Burton, a Harvest-based filmmaker, wrote, produced and stars in the film. He spoke with The News Courier this week about the movie and the artists featured on the soundtrack.

Burton describes “Dormant” as a gritty, dark thriller. He plays detective Jordan Long, the officer tasked with tracking down Arthur Huff after he goes on crime spree. The story is a prequel to “Bermuda City” a series of graphic novels and Web shows Burton’s company also produces. Burton said one of the driving forces to produce “Dormant” was to introduce the characters of “Bermuda City” and the world they live in. Other than that, the director said his inspiration comes from action films like “Face/Off.”

“I just wanted to produce something really fresh,” Burton said.

He also wanted to bring back the use of a variety of musical styles in the film’s soundtrack. Composers from Poland and California are featured in the score for “Dormant,” but several of the hip-hop and rap tracks were recorded in Athens. “Stretch,” also known as Michael Brown, lends his vocal talents to the the film and collaborated with Burton, whose stage name is “Karma,” on a track or two. Burton and Brown are longtime friends. The director credits Brown with getting him back into making music.

“I felt like that’s kind of a dying breed in the movies, bringing different elements and styles in,” Burton said. “(Our soundtrack) is refreshing, because it’s so much diversity. They bring a different element to the whole project. We’re definitely excited about the soundtrack.”

“Dormant” was shot in the Huntsville metro area. Burton went to high school in Danville and attended college at Calhoun during the early 2000s, so he is familiar with the locations, which were perfect for filming everything from suburban scenes to a Japanese garden.

“It’s the economy of resources that helped a lot,” he said.

“Dormant” is in its final stages of editing. “Stretch” will be teaming up with the crew to shoot an official music video for the track “Evil,” which is featured in the film. A private screening of the film is planned within the coming months, but Burton said he’s working to release it to the public by late fall or early winter.

Updates can be found on the film’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and at dormantmovie.com.