Something Weary This Way Comes
Covenant Predictable and Slow

Call it The Craft for boys. Call it The OC Underworld. Although it seems like a rehash of past horror movies, the new action movie from director Renny Harlin has more in common with stories about children of privilege, like Cruel Intentions. The Covenant takes a look at prep boys with unholy abilities in a story of power, corruption, and familial revenge.

The Covenant
New guy Chase (Sebastian Stan, left) confronts Caleb (Steven Strait) about the balance of power in Ipswitch. (Screen Gems, 2006)
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Written by: J.S. Cardone
Starring: Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Laura Ramsey, Taylor Kitsch, Toby Hemingway, and Jessica Lucas

Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, sexual content, partial nudity and language)
Running time: 97 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 3 out of 10.

The Covenant tells of four families of powerful magic users that survived the Salem witch hunts by vowing silence about their power and going into hiding. Although the back story is centuries old, this tale begins in the 21st century with Caleb (Steven Strait) and his high school friends: Pogue (Taylor Kitsch), Reid (Toby Hemingway), and Tyler (Chace Crawford). The group of teens are so good looking and charismatic that they could be starting a '90s boy band. Luckily, it's nothing so evil.

Caleb is on the verge of "ascending" and obtaining his full power on his 18th birthday. It is never fully explained what exactly this power is, only that using it is both addictive and harmful. The more the boys use it, the more it kills them. Unfortunately, there seems to be someone else using the power besides the fab four.

One problem with the movie is how the plot is set up. The story begins as a mystery, as Caleb and the others sense a power use that none of them can account for. Is Reid lying and double-crossing the others? What about the dead body found in the woods following the annual party? Could someone other than the four be using the power?

Of course, if you've seen any of the previews, the television ads, or even the poster for the film, it's apparent that the "other" is a member of the long-forgotten fifth family. The "mystery" quickly unravels, and it isn't a big surprise when all eyes turn to the new kid at school: Chase (Sebastian Stan). This conflict between story and marketing is part of the reason why the movie flops.

Entwined with this supernatural mystery is a love story between Caleb and the new girl in school, Sarah (Laura Ramsey). The romance is superfluous, necessary only to provide bait in a trap for Caleb. Sarah's character does little more than get bewitched on occasion to put Caleb at Chase's mercy.

The special effects are neat, but nothing exciting. The "powers" are never fully explained, so it's not quite clear what Caleb and Chase are hurling back and forth at each other. The story seems to suggest that the power is a manifestation of willpower, but Caleb also makes reference to Chase using a "creation spell" on Kate. Are these spells that Caleb and the others have memorized? Is their power brought out by incantation? It's all very muddled.

The biggest problem with the movie, however, is the casting of the principle leads. Stan and Strait look enough alike to be brothers, right down to their hair. In one scene, when Chase uses magic to look like Caleb, I had trouble telling if the guy at the door was the nice one or the evil one. The similarities made it especially difficult to see who was doing what in the climactic fight scenes.

Despite its attempt to create a witchcraft mystique for the story, the film really didn't have a supernatural plot. The entire story could have been told without the magic powers or the supernatural bent. If Chase had merely been a murderer who was bent on revenge, it would have been the same movie but without the special effects.