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Case 39 Reviews

In the realm of evil child movies such as, most recently, Orphan, the dull supernatural thriller Case 39 does a disservice to the sometimes entertaining horror subgenre.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 3, 2023

[Zellweger] looks downright miserable throughout.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 4, 2021

Not even hardcore Zellweger fans should worry about catching this flick on the big screen.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4.0 | Sep 5, 2020

Almost identical to 2009's Orphan, Case 39 does little keep your attention as its riddled with cliches--menacing music, domino casualties, and predictable horror plotline.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Sep 9, 2017

Despite its initial premise showing promise, Case 39 turns out to be boring, predictable and nothing new.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 9, 2013

While it's able to pull you in at some points with its eerie mood, it needed a lot more originality and better scares than the cheap kind of just having things pop up out of nowhere.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 23, 2012

[A] dumb thriller.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 4, 2011

...a decent little horror flick...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 30, 2011

Not only is Case 39 deplorable and morally off-center, the film is dull to boot.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/10 | Jan 16, 2011

What starts out as slight and fairly obvious turns into a frequently colorful horror tale.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 9, 2011

...we get a couple of moments of genuine suspense combined with a whole lot of cheap thrills.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Dec 24, 2010

What do you do with a crummy horror movie that has been sitting on the shelf for a couple, or maybe three, years?

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Oct 30, 2010

... before the movie is half over, the usual cliches take over ...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 16, 2010

Its time to put the nail in the otherworldly evil child genre until someone comes up with something original. The only thing supernatural about Case 39 is its ungodly presence on this planet.

Full Review | Original Score: 0.5/5.5 | Oct 15, 2010

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Oct 9, 2010

Neither so awful as to be enjoyable nor eerily artful enough to be anything other than a snoozy also-ran.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 9, 2010

in the meantime, director Christian Alvart went on to make the effectively moody "Pandorum," but this movie is a dud.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 8, 2010

It's as lame as can be, and despite sitting on the shelf for four years, it's not even bad enough to be unintentionally funny.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Oct 8, 2010

It's a bummer when the audience is smarter than the protagonist.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Oct 7, 2010

Unremarkable except for its subversive subtext.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 7, 2010

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

A social worker fights to save a girl from her abusive parents, only to discover that the situation is more dangerous than she ever expected. A social worker fights to save a girl from her abusive parents, only to discover that the situation is more dangerous than she ever expected. A social worker fights to save a girl from her abusive parents, only to discover that the situation is more dangerous than she ever expected.

• Christian Alvart
• Renée Zellweger
• Ian McShane
• Jodelle Ferland
• 319 User reviews
• 103 Critic reviews
• 25 Metascore
• 3 nominations

Top cast 59

• Emily Jenkins

• Detective Barron

• Lilith Sullivan

• Edward Sullivan

• Margaret Sullivan

• Javier's Wife

• Custody Judge
• Plainclothes Cop

• (as John Carroll)

• Chief Psychiatrist
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia This movie was completed in 2007, and was initially scheduled for an American release in August 2008, but was delayed twice before its final release date on October 1, 2010, three years after completing production.
• Goofs (at around 31 mins) When the cop lets Emily into the house, he hands her the key and tells her to lock up when she leaves; but the door frame is still visibly broken from being kicked in earlier, leaving the door obviously impossible to lock.

Douglas J. Ames : Everybody has fears... now, what scares you?

Lillith Sullivan : Me.

Douglas J. Ames : You scare yourself?

Lillith Sullivan : Sometimes.

Douglas J. Ames : Why? What about yourself scares you?

Lillith Sullivan : I have bad thoughts.

Douglas J. Ames : About what?

Lillith Sullivan : People.

Douglas J. Ames : People in general or... certain people?

Lillith Sullivan : Certain people.

Douglas J. Ames : Like who?

Lillith Sullivan : You.

Douglas J. Ames : You have bad thoughts about me? Why?

Lillith Sullivan : I just do.

Douglas J. Ames : Did I do something or say something that upset you?

Lillith Sullivan : It's just... the way you are.

Douglas J. Ames : How am I?

Lillith Sullivan : Facile.

Douglas J. Ames : Facile? Pfff... do you even know what that means?

Lillith Sullivan : Easily comprehended, often lacking sincerity or depth. You're smug too... want me to tell you what that means?

Douglas J. Ames : Uhm, If I... seem smug or facile, I want...

Lillith Sullivan : Don't apologize.

Douglas J. Ames : Why not?

Lillith Sullivan : You're a grown-up... it's embarrassing.

• Connections Featured in Phelous & the Movies: Phelous Is on Case 39 (2010)
• Soundtracks Like Dat Written by Stat Quo (as Stanley Benton), Gerald Griffin & Lt. Mo (as Todd Moore) Performed by Stat Quo Courtesy of Interscope Records Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 319

A good light horror film.

• filipemanuelneto
• May 2, 2021
• How long is Case 39? Powered by Alexa
• What is "Case 39" about?
• Is 'Case 39' based on a book?
• Why did Lily keep falling asleep during class?
• October 1, 2010 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Đứa Con Của Quỷ
• Portland, Oregon, USA (flyover shots)
• Paramount Vantage
• Misher Films
• Anonymous Content
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $26,000,000 (estimated)
• $13,261,851
• Oct 3, 2010
• $28,190,603

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 49 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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• DVD & Streaming

Content Caution

In Theaters

• October 1, 2010
• Renée Zellweger as Emily Jenkins; Jodelle Ferland as Lilith Sullivan; Ian McShane as Detective Barron; Bradley Cooper as Doug

Home Release Date

• January 4, 2011
• Christian Alvart

Distributor

• Paramount Vantage

Positive Elements   |   Spiritual Elements   |   Sexual & Romantic Content   |   Violent Content   |   Crude or Profane Language   |   Drug & Alcohol Content   |   Other Noteworthy Elements   | Conclusion

Movie Review

Emily Jenkins is a child services officer who really cares. And that’s not always so easy to do. The state buries her under an incredibly heavy caseload, leaving her little time to have a life of her own. And sometimes those kids can be a real handful.

But it’s worth it.

Let’s face facts: There’s usually a good reason for children to start acting out in public. And it often begins at home. If Emily can just uncover the truth in each case she gets, she can make a difference.

Emily’s case number 39 is … well, it’s a case in point. Lilith Sullivan, a slight, cow-eyed 10-year-old is the epitome of a wounded kid cowering quietly in the shadows. Emily wants to protect her from the moment she sees her. And the girl’s crazy-looking parents only strengthen her resolve.

And that’s when the mom and dad attempt to bake their young daughter to death in a taped-shut oven.

The parents are sent away, and Emily determines to take little Lilith under her own protective wing. But disturbing things begin to happen. Things are bumping in the night. People around Emily are dying mysteriously. And little Lilith seems to be changing in odd ways. All of a sudden Emily starts wondering if, this time, the mom and the dad were the ones with the good reason for acting out.

Positive Elements

As stated, Emily is dedicated to helping kids. She’s gentle and caring and does her best to show parents how wise choices at home can calm a troubled child’s stormy seas. Emily fears that because her mother did such a lousy job raising her, she would be a bad parent, too. But that doesn’t stop her from going out of her way to bring the battered Lilith into her home and show the child love.

Emily’s police friend Mike is willing to help Emily for the sake of the kids—even though his department frowns on some of Emily’s extracurricular requests.

Emily voices her love for Lilith.

Spiritual Elements

Without putting too fine a point on it, this is a film about a young girl who is, in reality, a demon. And near the end of the film we see her take on her true demonic form.

Both of Lilith’s parents state that it’s “God’s will” that Lilith die. And Mr. Sullivan says that Lilith was born with a demon’s soul that feeds on “kindness and decency.” When Emily asks him what the creature wants, he replies, “To know what your idea of hell is, and make you live in it.”

In Lilith’s house, crosses adorn many of the walls. Emily flips through a Bible in Lilith’s room.

Sexual & Romantic Content

Emily wears a few shirts that have a few too many buttons open. During one fright scene, she runs down the street wearing a skimpy T-shirt and shorts in the rain. A shot of a rap video on TV shows a buxom woman dressed in shorts and a brief bikini top.

Emily suggests to her friend Doug that his choice of becoming a psychologist was “just about scoring chicks, right?” Doug jokingly agrees and then offers Emily a purely physical relationship if a “real” one is too much for her right now.

Violent Content

This is a movie about a demonic entity that can, with a few whispered words, cause people to see twisted visions and eventually commit horrific acts while in a state of panic. Examples include:

A young boy is driven to beat his parents to death while they sleep. We see him swinging a crowbar, blood splashing the walls and, later, the grisly, gore-encrusted bed. Another scene focuses on a guy pulling a hornet out of his ear and eventually being enveloped by stinging insects that pour out of every orifice. He lacerates his face when stumbling through a shower door and falls, viciously snapping his neck.

A man has his face savagely smashed into a refrigerator door. And we see his shattered jaw hanging broken and askew. A woman who envisions herself burning alive flails around while tearing at the skin on her face and arms. A man brutally jams a fork into another man’s neck and then slashes at several others until he trips and plunges the utensil into his own eye. A dog bites a man in the neck and, while trying to defend himself, the victim shoots off half of his face with a shotgun blast.

Parents forcefully cram a girl into a gas oven and turn up the flames. Then they attack the girl’s defenders with a knife. A woman splashes gasoline around the interior of her home and sets the house ablaze. Later, she holds a struggling child underwater in an attempt to drown her.

Crude or Profane Language

Two f-words and three s-words. Also a few uses each of “h‑‑‑” and “a‑‑.” God’s name is misused once or twice.

Drug & Alcohol Content

Emily and Doug have beers at a bar. Emily drinks wine at home. Emily also gets a sleeping pill prescription and grinds several pills into Lilith’s tea.

Other Noteworthy Elements

Lilith lies on a number of occasions and verbally manipulates adults around her.

While not my favorite genre, I understand how some people can really get into scary flicks. But even fans should admit that a horror movie will rarely have much of anything redeeming to offer you by the time the credits roll. I mean, even if the central character somehow lives through it all (and I’m not saying whether that is or isn’t the case here), the gruesome messiness or twisted spirituality that usually gets you to the last frame will inevitably be none too uplifting.

So what else is there to discuss? Well, there are a few other basic questions that we reviewers generally ask—even when it comes to horror flicks:

1) Does it have some deeper meaning about our lives or the world we live in?

2) Is it a well-directed piece that deftly carries us into a creative story with style?

3) Last, and very definitely least, does it make you jump and clutch your date’s hand?

With Case 39—a film that was delayed for more than two years before its release—the answer to all those questions is simple and direct: nope.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Case 39 (Movie Review)

Jeff s's rating: ★ director: christian alvart | release date: 2010.

We believe in systems. Each of the promises society implicitly makes to us each day, they are enforced, codified and guaranteed by a system. We might doubt its efficacy, yes, or question the competence of the necessary bureaucracy, but the system persists despite itself, replacing fetishes and the knucklebones of saints in a secular world.

When systems break down, when they fail, that's when we feel fear. When we comprehend that they have betrayed us, dread. Horror is an examination of what happens when the universe breaks its promises.

Considering that, “Case 39” should be a much more effective film than it ends up being, taking place as it does within the framework of the child welfare system, shown through the point of view of an overworked social worker who still believes in the work she does despite the rigor of the job and a distaste for the red tape that comes with it. Unfortunately, “Case 39” stops just short of exploring the full potential of its concept. The result is a confused film – one that never confidently decides to be a possession film, a bad seed film, a 'cycles of abuse' fable or bit of J-horror weirdness, content instead to dither among those options listlessly to it's own detriment, as well as the audience's.

Emily Jenkins (Renee Zellweger) lives her job as a child services caseworker, ignoring the romantic advances of Doug (Bradley Cooper), her therapist colleague, and getting Mike (Ian McShane) – her only other friend – in hot water by coaxing him into using his position as a detective to investigate the families in her stack of cases. Thirty-eight cases, to be exact.

The titular case 39 is Lilith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland, who last played a creepy little girl in “Silent Hill”), an unassuming ten year old being raised by her intense, terrifying parents (Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O'Malley). Believing that the Sullivans intend to murder their daughter, Emily and Mike break into their house and save the girl's life, leaving Emily to care for Lily until permanent foster placement can be arranged. Inevitably, people start dying, leading Emily to investigate the true nature of her new ward.

Much like Wes Craven's “Pulse,” “Case 39” focuses too narrowly on its main character's personal drama instead of casting its net wider to really dig into what happens when Emily has to go against her principles to do the right thing. Yet, the film also fails to imbue the audience with a real sense of Emily's personal costs, making her the focal point of the story while never getting close enough to share her emotions. In that choice, as well as the story's methodical pacing and overlong scenes, “Pandorum” director Christian Alvart appears to wear his j-horror influences – and his relative inexperience - on his sleeve. Watching Bradley Cooper get killed by bees should never be so dull.

The cast does its best with the material – Zellweger is chipmunk-faced and stoic, Cooper is amiably smug and McShane is all gruff and no-nonsense. The weakest link is Ferland, who does little to telegraph her menace until after she's already been outed as the threat. Once she has, she vacillates so quickly between precocious and demonic that neither has any staying power. The material that "Case" has, though, is sometimes laughable and awkward, despite the promise the film wields in the first act. Starting with the state's investigation of the Sullivans' seeming abuse of their daughter, “Case 39” seems to promise a symmetry that is completely abandoned in its third act in favor of a hallucinatory car chase. The subversion that is inherent in the early parts of the film – that children are victims who need our intercession – vanishes with no more than brief lip service paid to it.

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