The more I watch this film, the more I like it, but the more frustrated I get at the fact that they tried to put such a complex plot into a 90-minute film.

The way the film was marketed, I thought that the four brothers of Ipswich were the protagonists, but when I watched it I found that they weren't - Caleb was. I didn't have a problem with this, but when you watch a film, expecting it to be about four warlocks an it ends up being about the classic, good vs. evil with the pursuit of a hot girl as the subplot, it can disappoint you.

The film had a lot of potential, but because of the way it was told it lacked what it needed to turn it into a great film, or even a great cult film.

In 1692, in the Ipswich Colony of Massachusetts, five families of powerful witches commit to a covenant of silence to protect themselves against the witch hunters, but one of the families transgress their pact and is banished from their lands. Along the centuries, the power and the covenant are transmitted through their descendants and when the eldest son is eighteen years old, he ascends to a higher power. However, the use of magic addicts and if used in excess, ages the warlock. In the present days, four wizards teenage friends are in high school and their leader Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait) is close to his eighteenth birthday and consequently to ascend. He has just met Sarah Wenham (Laura Ramsey) and they are dating, when the appearance of darkling and supernatural dreams haunt the group. Sooner they find an evil warlock, descendant of the fifth ancient family that wants to strip Caleb's power.

I liked "The Covenant", a supernatural teenager movie in the style of "Angel", Buffy", "Charmed" or "Supernatural". This film has good special effects, but the story and characters are not well-developed and some lines are terrible. The acting is only reasonable, but Laura Ramsey is extremely beautiful and natural in her great performance, and I liked this unknown actress. In the end, I found "The Covenant" very entertaining, but could be better and better with minor improvements in the screenplay. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Pacto" ("The Covenant")

Ipswich, Massachusetts back in the day had quite a history. Four families saw relatives done in for witchcraft and a fifth seemed to have vanished without a male heir to pass the gift down to. Or so everyone thinks.

Fast forward to the new millenia where four close friends who attend the same prep school share a secret passed down through the generations. They've got the power, but someone seems to be doing magic without a license.

For reasons the plot doesn't go into the interloper seems to have it in for one of the four young warlocks, Steven Strait. He's the one that interloper Sebastian Stan is after. They've got quite a climatic battle of powers in the end, but nothing you haven't seen already if you are fan of the TV series Charmed.

This is the second time I saw Sebastian Stan in something. He played the perpetrator on a Law and Order episode and in that one he's a nerdy kid with thick coke bottle glasses. His role here is miles from that and it shows me he's a player of a lot of promise.

The Covenant is not great, but it's entertaining enough and the ending does leave open the possibility of a sequel if this film succeeds.