The Covenant (2006)

Four young men who belong to a New England supernatural legacy are forced to battle a fifth power long thought to have died out. Meanwhile, jealousy and suspicion threaten to tear them apart.

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writer:

J.S. Cardone

Stars:

Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Toby Hemingway

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Waitress Nicky's Bar (as Barbara Basia-Jasinski)
Rob Burns	...	Mr. Pennyworth
Robert Crooks	...	Ryan Bael

Storyline

Four best friends, young warlocks of the same coven who all share a same secret: a magic powers, suddenly have to protect themselves from a stranger-another warlock just like them who has come to town to destroy their coven after a 300 years old hate...

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Plot Keywords:

magic | friendship between men | gay subtext | homoeroticism | supernatural power | 

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Taglines:

To save the future, they must battle their past.

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Gaumont Columbia Tristar [France] Sony Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 September 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Covenan+

Filming Locations:

Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,852,485, 10 September 2006, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$23,292,105, 15 October 2006

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$32,347,239, 18 December 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Screen Gems, Eyetronics, Lakeshore Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Pogue's name as written on his student I.D. is actually Nicholas Parry. However, during the opening credits, flashes of the Spenser yearbook go across the screen. In the year book, Pogue's name shows Christopher Parry.

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Goofs

When Caleb is driving, before he sees the graveling and has the accident, he is on the left side of the road. There was no one else shown on the road, so he wasn't passing anyone, which means there is no reason for him to be on the wrong side of the road BEFORE he was frightened by the image.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Reid Garwin: What's up, 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 a cliff]
Tyler Sims: Shit, yeah!
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The opening Production Company; Screen Gems Inc. shows the logo on fire

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Connections

References Dreamcatcher (2003)

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Soundtracks

Desperate Hearts
Written and Performed by C'Mon
Courtesy of Maplemusic Recordings

User Reviews

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.