THE CROSSES

 

  One Hundred and thirty three years ago, an armed robbery  gone awry at a remote country store leads to the death of the store’s owner, who utters the words before he dies:  Seth Jones.

  In the present, Charlie, Rooster, and Bo, race down a remote highway in a pickup truck when the sheriff, Karen Taylor, passes by with lights blazing.  After locking eyes with the un-known driver of the truck, Karen is jolted into a strange flashback that seems somewhat familiar to the viewer, but totally foreign to Karen. After jolting back to reality, Karen and her deputy continue on, eventually arriving at a quick-mart that is the scene of a ghastly crime.  Meanwhile the pick-up truck driven by the boys disappears off the side of the road leading the boys on their own adventure during the night.  During the course of her investigation, Karen has several flashbacks that seem to parallel the same crime she is investigating on this haunting New Mexican night.  

  In 1870, three cowboys – Teddy, Johnson, and William – make a similar nighttime escape, eventually alighting from their horses after a long ride to make camp, where they argue about what went wrong with their own aborted robbery.

  At the crime scene, Sheriff Taylor is joined by a mysterious federal agent named Boris, who is supposedly investigating security breeches at a nearby Army installation, but Karen is too busy for Boris, who wanders off on his own, but is always close by Karen through out the night.

  Teddy, Johnson, and William, meanwhile, stumble upon a small and seemingly abandoned house in the middle of nowhere, but they are surprised by the owner, Seth Jones, who invites them into his almost bare home for a dinner.  The criminals accept, instantly and greedily, and are soon full and drunk on food and liquor that seems to appear from nowhere.

  Seth’s wife is beautiful yet always silent and the men can’t keep their eyes off her.  Jones chats with the criminals amicably, but they become suspicious.  Tensions rise, and Teddy ends up killing Seth.  Later that evening, Teddy tries to rape Seth’s wife but when she kisses him, his breath is taken away and he weakens, then dies. Johnson and Williams come to realize that this strange women is the cause of Teddy’s demise and proceed with suspicion and caution.

  In the past, events parallel those of the present:  Charlie, Rooster, and Bo find shelter in a small abandoned   cabin in the haunting Organ mountains. Little do they know, it is the former home of Seth Jones and his mistress.

  Meanwhile, riding in her patrol car, Boris tells Sheriff Taylor of his exploits and his commitment to clean up the world, which he sees as screwed up.  He pushes Karen to find out how strong her commitment to upholding the law is, and if one has all the facts on an alleged criminal, should justice be taken into ones own hands or let the criminal slip through the cracks of a failing justice system.  Karen is led to the same small abandoned shack in the mountains only to find the trail of the century.  But who is really on trial here?

  The Crosses is a haunting re-occurring legend from the hypnotizing Organ Mountains of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The paralleling stories of present day and the 1870’s are driven through the central character of the film, Sheriff Karen Taylor, who comes to realize that she is not who she thinks she is.  The story attacks such social issues such as racism, a failing justice system and holding people responsible for their actions.  This bone chilling thriller sheds light on the fact that because of our own greed, non-tolerance and ignorance, the human race maybe heading to its own demise.