The Covenant (2006)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writer (WGA):

J.S. Cardone (written by)

Release Date:

8 September 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Only the power of hell can help them.

Plot:

Four young men who belong to a supernatural legacy are forced to battle a fifth power long thought to have died out. Another great force they must contend with is the jealousy and suspicion that threatens to tear them apart.

Plot Keywords:

Warlock | Supernatural | Magic | Massachusetts | High School

Cast

Steven Strait	...	Caleb Danvers
Laura Ramsey	...	Sarah Wenham
Sebastian Stan	...	Chase Collins
Taylor Kitsch	...	Pogue Parry
Chace Crawford	...	Tyler Simms
Toby Hemingway	...	Reid Garwin
Jessica Lucas	...	Kate Tunney
Kyle Schmid	...	Aaron Abbot
Wendy Crewson	...	Evelyn Danvers
Stephen McHattie	...	James Danvers
Kenneth Welsh	...	Provost Higgins
Christian Baril	...	Dead Teenage Boy
Basia Jasinski	...	Nicky's Bar Waitress (as Barbara Basia-Jasinski)
Rob Burns	...	Mr. Pennyworth
Robert Crooks	...	Ryan Bael

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, sexual content, partial nudity and language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

UK:12A | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Ireland:15A | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41452) | Malaysia:U | Norway:15 | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-15 | South Korea:12 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A (British Columbia/Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Alberta/Ontario) | South Africa:13V

Filming Locations:

Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Québec, Canada

Company:

Screen Gems

Trivia:

The spider that Chase stepped on is CG, as were all the spiders.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the scene at Nicky's, Pogue tells Caleb that Reid and Tyler are there and Caleb responds with, "Great, that's trouble." But when he says that's trouble, his lips don't actually move.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Reid Garwin: 'Sup fellas?
Tyler Sims: Where were you? I stopped by to give you a lift.
Reid Garwin: Had things to do. How's the party?
Pogue Parry: Don't know. Just got here.
Reid Garwin: Well, hell, boys.
[eyes go black]
Reid Garwin: Let's drop in.
[jumps off cliff]
Tyler Sims: Shit, yeah!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Breaking the Silence: Exposing the Covenant (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

More Human Than Human

not as bad as expected

Basic summary: Ipswitch used to be a community of witches and escaped the Salem witch hunts by forming a covenant of secrecy. The first born males descended from these families have supernatural powers, and must come to terms with the seductive, addictive nature of using those powers.

Well, I usually give movies the benefit of the doubt and start from a 5, going from there:

Production: -1 for very obvious audio out of sync, +1 for nicely done special effects, the darkling actually gave me chills, +0.5 for nice colorization (I like the dull blue), -0.5 for the stupid sound track, +0.5 for the opening sequence -- I'm a sucker for stylish compositing and flashy title design.

Story / Script: +1 for decent main idea, -0.5 for DBZ/Matrix/Street Fighter ripoff/pastiche, -1 for not explaining some plot threads very well (spiders, darkling), -1 for boring, predictable ending, -1 for gratuitous exposition, both as words on the screen and as bland monologuing

Acting / Characterization: -0.5 for bad bad acting, although it gets a little better as the film progresses, -1 for lack of character development, especially among all the females

Other: +1 for gratuitous male and female nudity, which is fun to watch, and +0.5 for no sex scenes, which for this genre are usually done very badly and end up being boring rather than hot, +1 for hitting its target audience, teenage sci-fi/horror/thriller fans, even though this movie is not exclusively any of those genres.

Conclusion: This is not a "film," this is a MOVIE. There's really nothing to analyze, it's just good, (relatively) clean fun. Lots of really attractive actors and actresses. Lots of boys fighting in the style of DBZ and Street Fighter. If you like cute actors and actresses, supernatural special effects, and/or mindlessly fun plots, this movie is for you. If you prefer Oscar-worthy, exquisitely-produced film masterpieces with tons of multi-layered, allegorical plot threads and groundbreaking visualization techniques, you probably won't like this film.

Using my twisted logic, this movie gets a 4/10.