RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / The Covenant
The Covenant

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

The Covenant (2006)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
3 %
Tomatometer
Template Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:69

Fresh:2

Rotten:67

Average Rating:2.8/10

Consensus: The Covenant plays out like a teen soap opera, full of pretty faces, wooden acting, laughable dialogue, and little suspense.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, sexual content, partial nudity and language

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Theatrical Release:Sep 8, 2006 Wide

Box Office: $23,292,105

Synopsis: Renny Harlin (DIE HARD 2, DEEP BLUE SEA) directs this supernatural thriller about descendants of powerful New England families. The sons of Ipswich are legendary at Spenser Academy, the local... Renny Harlin (DIE HARD 2, DEEP BLUE SEA) directs this supernatural thriller about descendants of powerful New England families. The sons of Ipswich are legendary at Spenser Academy, the local boarding school. Handsome and popular, these four teenage friends can trace their roots to the founding families of the Ipswich Colony, settled in the late 1600s. For years these Massachusetts families have harbored the secret that they possess supernatural powers. Their descendants--Caleb (Steven Strait), Reid (Toby Hemingway), Tyler (Chace Crawford), and Pogue (Taylor Kitsch)--have inherited magical powers that first manifested themselves when the boys turned 13 years old. In a nutshell, they can do anything. As they approach their 18th birthdays, they are preparing to "ascend," which means their powers will grow stronger. The downside? The magic is seductive and addictive, and causes premature aging with each use. Ringleader Caleb tries to keep his friends from using magic recklessly, but as the school year begins, strange events and a strong gut instinct convince Caleb that someone is using very powerful magic. Meanwhile, Caleb is exploring his newfound affection for transfer student Sarah (Laura Ramsey). To Caleb's dismay, Sarah becomes a pawn in a power struggle with a descendant of the fifth founding family of Ipswich, a line thought to be lost during Salem's witch trials. Is Caleb strong enough to maintain his power and keep his family and friends safe, or will he yield to this new threat and sacrifice himself? The film draws interesting parallels between the luring, addictive power of magic and the addictions real teenagers face. The sufficiently creepy setting echoes New England and sets the stage for supernatural phenomena. THE COVENANT also stars Sebastian Stan as Chase Collins, a wealthy newcomer to Spenser, and Jessica Lucas as Kate, Sarah's roommate and Pogue's girlfriend. [More]

Starring: Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Toby Hemingway, Chace Crawford

Starring: Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Toby Hemingway, Chace Crawford, Jessica Lucas, Laura Ramsey

Director: Renny Harlin

Director: Renny Harlin
Screenwriter: J.S. Cardone
Producer: Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, Andre Lamal
Composer: Tomandandy

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Sep 2, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • To the students of the Spenser Academy, the Sons of Ipswich are the baddest boys on campus. But that's not all they share. The four friends also share a 300-year-old secret: they're warlocks, the teenage descendants of a 17th-century coven of witches. So when the long-banished fifth son suddenly appears and threatens to kill their loved ones, they realize they must face their enemy in order to prevent him from stealing their powers and shattering the covenant forever.
  • Source: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for The Covenant

    • T-Meter Critics
    • Top Critics
    • RT Community
    • My Critics
    • My Friends
    • DVD
     
     
    1 - 20 (sorted by source)
    Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
    Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
     
     

    I would not encourage you to waste your money on this one.

    Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review | comment Comment
    09/15/06
    Kamal  'The Diva' Larsuel
    Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel
    3BlackChicks Review

    it's really nothing more than really bad dialogue spoken by some of the most beautiful kids in Hollywood who can't act their way out of a paper bag

    Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
    09/08/06
    Kevin Carr
    Kevin Carr
    7M Pictures

    Moviegoers need to band together for a covenant -- stop buying tickets to Renny Harlin movies.

    Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment 1 Comment
    09/08/06
    Phil Villarreal
    Phil Villarreal
    Arizona Daily Star

    All that's truly scary about The Covenant are the words that appear before the title: 'A Renny Harlin Film.'

    Full Review Source: Associated Press | comment Comment
    09/10/06
    Christy Lemire
    Christy Lemire
    Associated Press
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Surely nothing Hollywood did in its darkest, most debauched hour could possibly justify the penance we're paying that allows Renny Harlin to continue directing movies.

    Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
    09/30/06
    Josh Rosenblatt
    Josh Rosenblatt
    Austin Chronicle

    There are worse things for a horror-thriller about supernatural high-schoolers to not be. Like not scary. Or not thrilling. Or not as entertaining as an episode of Charmed.

    Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
    09/30/06
    Amelie Gillette
    Amelie Gillette
    AV Club

    Director Renny Harlin helms like a bat out of hell, and obviously doesn't know a pentagram from a mammogram.

    Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
    12/30/06
    Jamie Russell
    Jamie Russell
    BBC

    Anyone with half a brain is not this movie's target audience.

    Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
    09/13/06
    Ty Burr
    Ty Burr
    Boston Globe

    [An] unbewitching brew of clichés.

    Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
    04/23/09
    Tom Meek
    Tom Meek
    Boston Phoenix

    ... one hopes, perhaps naively, that there’d be some kind of message amid the special effects and nubile bodies.

    Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
    09/10/06
    Annlee Ellingson
    Annlee Ellingson
    Boxoffice Magazine

    No one has bothered to develop a coherent story or remotely likable characters to sustain the CGI effects, ear-splitting music, and hyperactive editing.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    09/13/06
    Reece Pendleton
    Reece Pendleton
    Chicago Reader

    It's a horror film for the MTV generation, a horror film for the audience of "Laguna Beach"...

    Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
    07/10/07
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Cinema Crazed

    O máximo que este O Pacto consegue é transformar-se, em seus instantes finais, em uma espécie de Mortal Kombat para imbecis. E, ainda assim, com dificuldade.

    Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
    11/23/06
    Pablo Villaca
    Pablo Villaca
    Cinema em Cena

    Director Renny Harlin ("The Long Kiss Goodnight") phones in this thoughtless teen horror flick from screenwriter J.S. Cardone ("The Forsaken").

    Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
    04/20/09
    Cole Smithey
    Cole Smithey
    ColeSmithey.com

    WB-style homoerotic teen escapism.

    Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
    09/15/06
    John Beifuss
    John Beifuss
    Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

    More nonsensical than scary, THE COVENANT conjures a cautionary tale for prep school pretties.

    Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | comment Comment
    10/01/06
    Cynthia Fuchs
    Cynthia Fuchs
    Common Sense Media

    The Covenant looks less like a movie and more like an extended boy band video -- and with about the same amount of depth.

    Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
    01/02/07
    David Edwards
    David Edwards
    Daily Mirror [UK]

    "A truly lacklustre direct-to-video teen thriller filled with corny effects, chiseled jaw stares and a lot of hokum about Salem witchcraft"

    Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
    10/10/06
    Garth Franklin
    Garth Franklin
    Dark Horizons

    The film is not at all suspenseful or creepy, and the cast was apparently chosen for looks rather than acting ability.

    Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
    10/01/06
    Jeff Vice
    Jeff Vice
    Deseret News, Salt Lake City

    None of them can act worth a lick, but all of them would be perfect for an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue.

    Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
    09/09/06
    Dustin Putman
    Dustin Putman
    DustinPutman.com
     
     
    1 - 20 (sorted by source)
    Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
    all

    Latest News for The Covenant

    September 13, 2007: Box Office Guru Preview: Jodie's Got A Gun!
    Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster returns to the big screen this weekend in the vigilante thriller The Brave One which has its sights set on an easy top spot debut. The frame's... More...

    September 11, 2007: Nelson McCormick Signs on to Direct Stepfather Remake
    Apparently, Screen Gems was serious about doing that remake of The Stepfather. More...

    September 06, 2007: Box Office Guru Preview: Crowe vs. Bale in Box Office Shootout
    Batman takes on Cinderella Man at the box office as the Russell Crowe-Christian Bale Western remake 3:10 to Yuma heads into the multiplexes over what is traditionally a... More...

    October 02, 2006: Box Office Wrapup: Open Season Shoots Up #1 Opening
    Ashton Kutcher ambushed the top two spots at the North American box office this weekend playing an animated mule and a Coast Guard rookie in Open Season and The Guardian,... More...

    See All

    More DVDs

    Close
    Top Rentals
    Tomatometer Percentage Movie
    66% 66% Public Enemies
    83% 83% Harry Potter and the H…
    44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
    75% 75% Julie & Julia
    32% 32% Terminator Salvation

    More Rentals…

    New On DVD This Week
    Tomatometer Percentage Movie
    88% 88% Inglourious Basterds
    78% 78% The Hangover
    49% 49% Taking Woodstock
    26% 26% The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
    47% 47% The Girl From Monaco

    More New Releases…

    RT On Current TV

    DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196

    What’s Hot On RT

    James Cameron

    James Cameron

    We look at the Avatar director's career

    Alice in Wonderland

    Alice in Wonderland

    Check out the brand new trailer now!

    SAG Awards

    SAG Awards

    Find out who got nominated!

    Nominee Gallery

    Nominee Gallery

    See who got nominated for Golden Globes!

    Other News

    Close
    • Top Stories
    • Popular
    • Interviews
     
     

    Comments

     
     
    Top Stories
    Headlines Comments
      
    • Bryan Singer Returning to X-Men for First Class Source: Superhero Hype
    64
    • Mark Strong Talks Kick-Ass, John Carter, and Robin Hood Source: Collider.com
    1
    • How Avatar Happened: The Path to Innovation Source: CinemaBlend.com
    19
    • Rob Marshall Says Pirates 4 Is Still a Maybe Source: ComingSoon.net
    30
    • ET Teases Iron Man 2 Teaser Source: Collider.com
    28
    • Tobey Maguire Refutes Hobbit Rumors Source: Hollywood Reporter
    9
    • Prince of Persia Featurette Posted Source: Yahoo! Movies
    4
    • Trailer Bulletin: Robin Hood Source: ComingSoon.net
    61
    • Mel Gibson Plans a Mexican Vacation Source: Variety
    8
    • New Iron Man 2 Clue Posted Source: Screen Rant
    26
    Popular
    Headlines Comments
      
    • Tomatometer Watch: Will Avatar Live Up To The Hype?
    237
    • Awards Tour 2009: Golden Globe Noms Here!
    143
    • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Girlpower Rules Again with Princess at #1
    70
    • Total Recall: James Cameron Movies
    66
    • Awards Tour 2009: Inglourious Basterds Lead Critics Choice Noms
    44
    • Awards Tour 2009: Avatar Best Picture at NYFCO!
    38
    • Weekly Ketchup: James Cameron Plans a Fantastic Voyage
    33
    • The Effects of Where the Wild Things Are
    30
    • Awards Tour 2009: SAG Nominations Are In!
    27
    • Friday Harvest: Iron Man 2, Tron Legacy, and more!
    20
    Interviews
    Headlines Comments
      
    • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
    21
    • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
    2
    • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
    17
    • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
    12
    • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
    23
    • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
    8
    • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
    15
    • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
    24
    • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
    9
    • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
    28
     
     

    Sponsored Links

    Around The Network

    • The Covenant at Rotten Tomatoes
    • The Covenant at IGN
    • The Covenant at AskMen

    Fresh Links

    Featured
    MSN's Year in Review
    MSN's Year in Review External Link

    Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.

    40 Best Films of the 2000s
    40 Best Films of the 2000s External Link

    Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!

    Tarantino's Characters
    Tarantino's Characters External Link

    Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.

    Top 10 Movies of 2009
    Top 10 Movies of 2009 External Link

    TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

    Top 20 of the Decade
    Top 20 of the Decade External Link

    Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!

    Promos
    Follow RT on Twitter
    Follow RT on Twitter External Link

    Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

     
     
    About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
    IGN Logo

    IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
    TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
    AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


    By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
    Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
    IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
    Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.