Old wine, Old bottle

 

 

In Bollywood, if every third movie is about boy-meets-girl, our western counterparts’ fixation lies with the irresistible teen flicks and high school adolescent drama. Ok, the pompoms were not part of the paraphernalia, this time around, but The Covenant, with a horror/thriller tag attached to it is a weak and dismal attempt at telling a story, let alone scare anybody. Four boys who hail from the old Ipswich colony settlers of Massachusetts also inherit supernatural powers of their ancestors. The ancestors having pledged not to reveal anything about their unique abilities expel a member turned greedy for more. This was in 1692. Cut to the present – the boys find unnatural incidents happening one after the other followed by the death of their schoolmate after a party. A new boy in class is also attempting to steal the girlfriend of one in the gang. If you are already feeling exasperated, this just the beginning. We are reminded constantly that frequent use of the ability leads to severe addiction and old-age faster than usual. Quite predictably, the new kid in school turns out to be the descendant of the expelled member who refused to protect the sanctity of the covenant of silence. All ends well with good winning over evil even among the supernaturally endowed community. The regular ingredients of puppy-love, jealousy and display of machismo only contribute to the feeling of ennui and déjà vu. The stock methods and camera angles used to create horror and fear turn out to be damp squibs. Though the backdrop (shot in Quebec) is the only saving grace with some stunning landscape vignettes captured on camera.