COVENANT *** USA 2018 Dir: Manuel H. Da Silva. 86 mins
When our PTSD stricken hero Ian returns to his dead mother’s house in the strange township of Forest Hill all hell starts to break loose in this creepy devil cult shocker from the house of High Octane.
The FX and photography by Roger Singh are simple and effectively balanced against an appropriate score by Ryan Stevenson which helps to set the perfect mood for an intense and disturbed ride into the world of Lucifer himself.
When Ian listens to his mother’s horrified cassette recording begging him to stay away from the town where not all is as it should be he presses on anyway just like the Nic Cage type character that the actor Nick Smyth so closely resembles. On the edge and desperate for answers he can’t really handle. Eventually Ian stumbles upon her lonely and deserted log cabin in the woods as he throws away his map declaring in dark style that “There’s no map for Hell”.
There certainly isn’t when he soon discovers that it is an entirely different dimension altogether as he troops on into the dark unknown armed with his trusty Colt and a bottle of spirits. Can Ian get to the bottom of the mystery or is he just imagining the strange apparitions and events that unfold around his sanity? Perhaps Forest Hill may not have been the best of therapy for his PTSD after all!
Covenant gave me a great experience and there is some great action here that is topped off by some very vivid portrayals of dark evil and demonic power. The story is well written and it should really stoke the dark fires of your imagination as Ian and the mysteriously dubious Lara Croft like Jayde take on what might be the Shadowman’s nefarious army together. The action shots and FX are used really well here to great final effect.
The film is a well-paced adventure shocker that has high entertainment value and it will keep your suspicion and fearful excitement high as you follow Ian and Jayde with interest to see if they might save themselves and Ian’s family from the clutches of the Shadowman’s Dark Horde. There are a lot of different threads that pull together well into a great ending where they encounter the Shadowman in his interdimensional world.
Covenant is a treat for any fans of dark sci-fi fantasy horror and is a movie that is well worth a watch by any lovers of disturbed and devilish infection that are out there.
Review by Nathan Sandiford
COVENANT is available on Amazon