“Tucker’s Crossing” is an independent horror film, written and directed by Jamie Sharp, about a killer named Jareth Tucker, played by Alan Gilman, stalking people and cops in the woods. The film follows a group of campers made up of Heather, played by Heather Hamilton, her fiancé Ben, played by Ben Curran, and her aunt Lisa, played by Lisa Lovett, who are camping in the very woods Jareth Tucker hunts in. While most people would see the poster, and hear the basic plot and think that this is a run of the mill horror film, but there is one difference. The difference is how the characters are written and how the actors sell their performances.
The best thing about this film, hands down, is how the characters are written and performed. For example, the backstory for Jareth involves him, at a young age, being dropped off by his deadbeat dad with his abusive Uncle Roo, played by Reggie Provencher. Uncle Roo is an incredibly chilling character because you don’t quite know what he’s going to do next to poor Jareth. It should also be mentioned that there is comedy in this film, but how it’s applied is quite a surprise. It seems like while there is this dead serious horror going on with a murderer on the prowl, there are characters straight from a comedy in this film.
The side-plot with Ben, Heather, and Lisa highlights this comedy by getting laughs out of Ben trying to get along with Lisa for the sake of Heather. There are also the police officers who would be right at home in a slapstick comedy. It’s interesting on the part of the writer to decide to go this route instead of the usual strict horror route.
One downside however, is with Jareth Tucker himself, but this isn’t to say that he isn’t acted well as a character. There is this feeling however, that there are a few things missing with how and why the character is the way he is. We don’t really get an explanation as to why Jareth decides to kill people in the woods. Even if he was just crazy it would be nice to get an explanation as to exactly why he is killing people. This doesn’t detract from the film though as Alan Gilman plays the role very subtly as to give a sympathetic look to this character.
Overall this is an independent film with dedication that is simply beautiful with performances that are something to see. All the actors came in with 110% energy and were given writing that is top notch. While some people would complain if there is gore that undermines all of this, there actually isn’t a lot of gore and on top of that there are some laughs to boot. Also the film isn’t going to eat up much time since it’s about an hour. Currently the film can be bought from www.sharpsfilms.comfor about $10 and it’s recommended you should check it out.