The Covenant is basically Lost Boys meets The Craft (or you might even call it The Lost Boys go to Hogwarts), and while it lacks the hip sensibility of the former and the all out angst of the later, it's surprisingly well made – technically anyway. If only this movie had a decent screenplay and better acting, they might have had something here. Instead, we have a script cobbled together from pieces of better films and a bunch of young actors and actresses who are so ultra good looking, that they never seem terribly concerned about their performances. In fact, the entire cast seems perfectly content just showing off their perfect bodies. A good half of the film showcases this attractive cast prancing around in their underwear and, in one case, nothing at all.

As for the plot, The Covenant tells the story of four buddies with witchlike powers who must do battle with an equally powerful force that has descends upon them without warning.

The Covenant is based on the graphic novel of the same name and was directed by Renny Harlin. Harlin has made some films that I immensely enjoy (see Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger) but he's also responsible for some pictures I truly despise (see Cutthroat Island and Driven). I suppose The Covenant lies somewhere in between (on par with the relentlessly silly but strangely watchable Deep Blue Sea). On the one hand, there's nothing terribly exciting about this story, and the ending of the movie in particular is over before anything really happens. It's an incredibly weak climax. Furthermore, The Covenant has a bizarre, sort of homoerotic undercurrent flowing through it's veins. Nearly every time the four life long pals are speaking to each other on the phone, they're shirtless - their bulging, lubed up chests glistening in the moonlight. Please? We also get a shower scene that really pushes the boundaries of the PG-13 rating. Finally, there's even a moment in which one dude kisses another dude leading me to believe that perhaps a better title for this movie would have been "Escape to Brokeback Mountain," or perhaps "The Shaft." Now I'm no homophobe (and in fact, I thought Brokeback Mountain was a beautiful film), but this stuff really felt out of place to me. Joel Schumacher's flicks (specifically Lost Boys and his two Batman efforts) feel positively restrained by comparison. On the flip side of the coin, Harlin does take a little time to show off the gal's assets. Included, a sequence in which our young heroines wander around their dorm in skimpy gowns and panties, so I suppose that's a big plus for the horny, heterosexual males in the audience. Leading lady Laura Ramsey, even gets a shower seen of her own, but we only see her blurred backside from the outside of the barely transparent shower door. What a rip off!

So what does work in The Covenant? Well, the movie is well shot and crisply edited. It also offers up a few effective creep out moments including a spider sequence that would make the producers of Arachnophobia proud. The CG effects are well utilized and work to much stronger effect here than in that lame Pulse movie. I also thought the picture benefitted a bit from the "so silly it's entertaining" theory, albeit not as much as "Snakes on a Plane" or the bullet train that is "Crank".

Also enhancing the overall entertainment value of The Covenant is the funny if a tad self conscious dialogue. At one point in the movie, one character proclaims that; "Dreamcatcher was the shit". In another, a power hungry warlock tells another of his kind; "I'll make you my we-otch!"

Women will no doubt swoon at the site of these four strapping young warlocks, most notably Steven Strait (Sky High). This actor sort of reminds me of James Franco minus the excessive brooding. Actress Laura Ramsey is certainly a pretty face, but it ends there. Her romantic moments with Strait are downright cheesy. The two don't seem to have any chemistry. If they do, it certainly doesn't come across on screen. Their big kiss towards the end of the film evoked laughter from the crowd I saw the flick with. Sebastian Stan, who appears to have graduated from the Hayden Christensen School of Acting, has a couple of entertaining moments as a...well...I wouldn't want to ruin the plot, so I'll say no more.

The Covenant is forgettable fare to be sure, but for whatever reason, it wasn't the big piece of shit I was expecting. I had a good time watching it, but I don't think I'd necessarily watch it again. While I can't give it a whole hearted recommendation, I can say it beats the crap out of Material Girls and Pulse. Take that we-otch!

Grade: C