Directed by Renny Harlin ("Deep Blue Sea," "Die Hard 2"), "The Covenant" tells the story of four young students bound by their sacred ancestry. As descendants of the original families who settled in Ipswich Colony in the 1600's, around the time of the Salem witch trials, the boys have all been born with their ancestors' supernatural powers. When a fifth descendant suddenly moves to town, secrets begin to unravel which threaten to break the covenant of silence that has protected their families for hundreds of years.
"The Covenant's" breathtaking action and riveting suspense were just part of what attracted the filmmakers to J.S. Cardone's original screenplay. "I wanted to make a "Lost Boys" for this generation, and this was just the script to do it with," says Harlin.
Producer Tom Rosenberg was particularly drawn to the script's clever subtext, which subtly explores contemporary social issues, including addiction and the sense of invincibility many teenagers experience. "The film works as a pure thriller fantasy but it's also a cautionary tale for young people," says Rosenberg. "It's about five friends who share a secret bond-all 16 and 17 years old-on the threshold of developing their full powers. The rest of society has to obey the laws of physics, but these boys don't. The problem is that if they use their power, it shortens their lifespan, which can be seen as a metaphor for many other things."
"When I read 'The Covenant,' I felt that it was a story that I hadn't seen in a long time," says Harlin. "In the age of movies like 'Harry Potter,' we're used to seeing witchcraft stories for kids, but to have something like this for teenagers and adults is very unusual. It offers the ability to explore this ultimate wish fulfillment of having powers to make anything happen.
"I also was intrigued by the fact that these young characters are on the verge of adulthood, a period when you face some very hard issues and decisions and your life is changing rapidly," Harlin continues. "Like all of us, they want to fit into society and live fairly normal lives… but these guys have the extra challenge, the extra pleasure, and the extra danger of having these magical powers."
Harlin also appreciated the fact that the script defied easy pigeonholing. "Films tend to come in very clear categories: fantasy films, thrillers, comedies and horror stories. But this film takes several genres and fuses them together. So you're watching something that is very entertaining, very visual, very exciting, very scary and very dark. It's not your typical thriller."
Opening soon across the Philippines, "The Covenant" is distributed by Columbia Pictures, the local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.