The Covenant
Metascore
19 out of 100

Overwhelming dislike - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 16
  3. Negative: 14 out of 16
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  1. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: David Hiltbrand
    63
    Harlin, with his customary visual brio, has created a film that is deliriously watchable. It's just not all that interesting. In the end, The Covenant is simply a glossier version of TV's "Charmed."
  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: Helen O'Hara
    40
    Utterly stupid and full of lazy plotting and lazier dialogue, this is just idiotic enough to entertain on nights when you want to give your brain a rest.
  3. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    38
    Profoundly mediocre supernatural thriller.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    38
    When the villain is revealed, you are neither surprised nor scared. You just think, "That guy?"
  5. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    38
    The Covenant is dopey, formulaic stuff for the Friday night fright crowd. Worse for them, it's never remotely scary.
  6. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Amelie Gillette
    33
    Okay, so it isn't challenging. 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."
  7. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    30
    For the most part, the proceedings are slow, solemn and tedious.
  8. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Luke Y. Thompson
    30
    The idiocy and sheer laziness of the whole concept ought to be the sort of thing director Renny Harlin (Deep Blue Sea) could make into glorious cinematic cheese, and occasionally he cuts loose with a swarm of CGI spiders or a final battle that resembles nothing more than a live action game of "Street Fighter II." But he's hamstrung by the PG-13 rating and the budget.
  9. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Michael Ordona
    30
    As boredom sets in, the viewer realizes that "The Covenant" does possess one magical power: It afflicts its audience with restless leg syndrome.
  10. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    25
    It fails utterly as a horror picture, although it delivers plenty of PG-13-rated flesh and unintentional laughs.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    20
    Muddled and most unmagical offering.
  12. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Gregory Kirshling
    16
    Cobbled-together teenybopper tripe.
  13. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Josh Rosenblatt
    11
    Surely nothing Hollywood did in its darkest, most debauched hour could possibly justify the penance we're paying that allows Harlin to continue directing movies.
  14. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Nathan Lee
    10
    That's the one with a car that explodes and gets put back together by magic, right? Yeah, that’s pretty much the coolest part.
  15. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    10
    Director Renny Harlin, whose colon-studded credits include "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" and "Exorcist: The Beginning," knows the deal here: Pay homoerotic homage to youth and beauty, crank up the heavy metal on the soundtrack, and spare no effort to backlight the omnipresent rain.
  16. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Reece Pendleton
    10
    Crushingly dull teen horror flick.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.1 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 128 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 41
  3. Negative: 18 out of 41
  1. FitriAmirrol
    3
    Epitomizing magic with drug use has never been more superficial than in The Covenant. The cheap exploitations of the young male and female bodies prove how shallow the film really is. The moral of the story is clouded by callow acting and the thrill is drowned out by flat lines.… Full Review »
  2. Halfwelshman
    0
    Unfortunately, I was dragged to see this on a date. It's angsty teen nonsense without a single defined element. Thankfully I've blanked most of the plot (what little there was) from my memory until only a grey indistinct blob remains (or perhaps that was what the plot resembled to begin with?) It's dire, truly dire.… Full Review »
  3. EmericC.
    5
    It would've been a good movie they've been thinking a little bit more about the plot. Like in the beginning, why did the cops chase them? Or about the darklings?… Full Review »
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