Customer Reviews

Case 39 [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Renee Zellweger is a talented actress. There is no question about that. And she is certainly surrounded by a talented supporting cast, including the reliable Bradley Cooper and Ian McShane. The story is a familiar one; a concerned case worker begins to notice that bad things seem to happen in the presence of a certain young child. At first, nobody seems to believe her, and when she finally convinces those close to her that the child may in fact be responsible for these sinister doings, it may be too late.

Cooper and McShane are exceptional, and Zellweger does well with a sparse script. She does not have a whole lot to work with here, but she makes it work, and the film is just good enough to keep you entertained for 90 minutes. This movie is a cross between "Orphan," "The Ring," and "The Omen," although it is not quite as good as those films. It would be a good rental or even a worthwhile purchase for fans of this genre, though, as long as you are not expecting too much. Sometimes, even though something has been done before and you kind of know how things are going to turn out, it can still be fun getting there. And while I would stop short of calling this film "fun," I found it to be mildly disturbing in some parts, and genuinely entertaining in most others.

An overworked Social Worker (Zellweger) picks up a case involving a little girl (Ferland) being abused by her parents. Emily (Zellweger) pulls strings and adopts Lilly (Ferland) in order to help her. There are very few things that scare me in movies. The biggest one is creepy kids, which this movie has. After a vicious attack by her parents Lilly finds a new loving home with Emily. After strange happenings Emily begins to wonder how crazy Emily's parents were. The little girl (Ferland) does a fantastic job of creeping me out. This movie runs along the line of being believable and far fetched...playing both sides makes it even creeper then if if stayed on one side of the fence or the other. Nothing outstanding but creepy enough to have to watch with the lights on. I give it a B-.

****SPOILER FREE REVIEW****

I love how the movie starts off normal then slowly takes us into the realm of Horror. This type of genre "good child whom is really evil" is starting to be a bit over done and well traversed. Be that as it may, this movie was decent. Acting is superb, Rene of course can really do no wrong.

The child actress is phenonmenal as well (where do they find these kids?)

The introduction of the supernatural feels organic, I was fine with more or less everything.

When I think of this movie, I think of a diet version of "The Ring".

Not too bad. I'd give it 3.5 stars but Amazon doesn't do the 1/2 star thing so I gave it 4 stars.

This movie was ridiculously scary. I hope to never see a movie like this or this movie ever again. I thought I was going to have a heart attack during the last 20-30 minutes of the movie.

However, my wife really liked the movie.

I will admit there are a couple of "WOW" moments in this film, but over all, it's too much of a dirge to provide any real chills or thrills. It starts slow but doesn't build suspense; it simply switches gears....abruptly. The tone, the behavior of characters, everything just changes course and it isn't subtle. Take Ian McShane's character, one second he's a rather nasty doubting Thomas, the next, a believer. What happened in between? It's feels like there's a step missing. The same holds true for Renee Zellweger's performance; she goes from bored and aloof to wildly out of control in a blink. There are also a lot of inconsistencies in the story, too many things that don't make sense (rules of the game changed for convenience sake?). It also doesn't help that the child makes a poor villain. They have to resort to f/x to make her seem sinister. In the end, she just comes across as a snotty, petulant child rather than anything truly frightening. (Exactly what was the intent of this evil child? It's never made clear.)

I'm glad I got to see it, but there's nothing compelling about it that would make me want to add this to my collection.

If you don't read the box, you will still know the entire plot about 10 minutes into the movie. Rene plays a savvy case worker. She is overloaded with 38 cases when she is given case 39, about a 10 year old girl named Lillith [sic] a dead evil name give away. Rene ends up rescuing the girl from parents that are attempting to Hansel and Gretel her to death. Lilith stays with Rene (Emily) until she can get a foster home. While Rene is picking up stuff at the little girl's home she notices large dead bolts on the inside of her parent's door. At this point the plot is fairly well established and you can guess the rest of the film.

The acting was superb. Jodelle Ferland was excellent, with the highlight being the scene with Rene's smug boyfriend. "How did you answer number 12?" Sweet.

There were no great twists in the plot, not really a surprise ending. These were really needed to distinguish this movie from other demon kid movies. Overall I would go 4 1/2 stars on the strength of the performances and good dialouge. Not for parents with 10 year old girls who think they are possessed.

When I read reviews that people leave, I often wonder what they were thinking when they sat down and wrote or typed the words they did in the review in which they left for the item, in this case the film. Please I read the comment in the two star sections who simply should have not left any words at all because they simply do not tell you anything but for she needs to "think" before leaving a comment. This film is outstanding, yes I did give it a five start simply to make up for the wrongful one and two stars that were left. In all this movie is no different when it comes to children than any other movie we may see a child or children in. If you a person who wants great acting, a plot, something to make you think, great sound and all around great movie this is one I would say to watch and rent first. Then you can decide if you would like to add to your collection. As well not to push anyone persons reviews but "SPOILER FREE REVIEW" is a person who watches and read a whole lot of movies and books. This being if you want to get a "real just" review of either take a look at his reviews. If he gives the movie a two or above it is worth renting first, three or above should be added to your collection. Hope this helps those of you who are wonderfing about the film itself.

Cheers, Peace & Blessings.

I found this pretty entertaining, mainly because of the charisma of Bradley Cooper (before those pesky hornets) and despite the whispery/baby-voice annoyingness of Renee Zellweger.

BUT, here's the thing: Those poor parents of Lilith have been trying to do her in for years and it turns out she ("it") CAN JUST BE LOCKED IN A CAR AND DROWNED???!!! Thank goodness Lilith's dad is dead or I imagine he would kill himself AGAIN once he found out how easy it turned out to be.

I found myself wondering how Emily's life would be after the movie ends: her house is burned down, she'll probably never get another job, even if she manages to stay out of prison once the police find the remains of whatever's in the car after they haul it out of the water. Ouch.

Case 39 was directed by Christian Alvart (who has since also directed and released Pandorum) and written by Ray Wright (who just released The Crazies) and I feel that his mix of director and writer actually show full well with how the movie turned out. Christian Alvart put together a very solid looking movie just as he does in Pandorum and Ray Wright has written up a great concept that I just couldn't put both of my feet solidly behind as much as I really wanted to with the concept of the film. My only complaint with Alvart's work on this is he appears to go with the scares over building up suspense and with the plot of the film I believe this was a mistake.

This story follows Emily Jenkins (Renee Zellweger,) a social worker who on a routine trip has found that a young girl Lilith (Jodelle Ferland) appears to be being abused by her parents; Edward (Callum Rennie) and Margaret (Kerry O'Malley.) I have to admit the first scene she has with meeting the couple is one of the stronger scenes in the film just with how unsettling off it was. How are you supposed to talk to a couple that reacts so indifferently to not at all to what you are saying? It is painfully obvious though that there is something wrong in this house as you can tell from every nuance of how they communicate that things are just not right.

With the conviction that Lilith is in a bad environment and is at both mental and physical risk, she goes on a crusade with her boss to try to have the child removed from their custody. Emily fails in being able to accomplish it as they smooth talk their way out of any problems when talking to her boss. After this fails we see Emily show up at Lilith's school as she is clearly concerned, gives the girl her phone number, and asking her to call if anything is to ever happen.

We flash forward to Edward and Margaret preparing to do something and Lilith calling Emily begging for help and claiming her parents are going to kill her. Lilith shows up with a police officer she is friends with and breaks in as they find the parents trying to roast the young girl alive in an oven. After a decently choreographed fight sequence we have the parents subdued and the daughter saved just in time.

From this point everything appears to be going well for the main characters. The parents are in prison, Lilith is safe, and Emily is ready to move on to the next case - until Lilith tries to be adopted by her. When she succeeds all is going well until the people that matter in Emily's life start to commit suicide or be murdered. While the first two are a bit strange it's fairly obvious to Emily quickly that something is going on. Once she starts to put together the clues that Lilith is behind it - it may be too late.

A lot of the plot felt forced and just did not work well at building up suspense. It really went for the quick thrill on each kill and didn't help to tie them in for a large build up. While the concept of how Lilith kills her victims through their greatest fears is a great concept - it was poorly executed.

Renee Zellweger must have needed some quick cash to take a role in CASE 39, an unexceptional horror movie, described (in the extras) as "part THE BAD SEED and part THE EXORCIST). For myself, I saw a great deal of THE RING in this, though THE RING is a far more effective movie, the kind that can give an adult a sleepless night.

The best casting in CASE 39 isn't Zellweger, who plays a passionate Social Worker, it's Jodelle Fernald, who plays Lillith, the little girl. Just as THE RING had it's protagonist Samarra (as in the story "Death in Samarra") CASE 39 has it's protagonist, Lillith. For anyone unfamiliar with the legend, Lillith was supposed to have been Adam's first wife. She was supposed to have abandoned him in the Garden of Eden, ultimately to transform into a demoness. If you know that tale, half of CASE 39 gives itself up as soon as we hear the little girl called by name.

Still, we're not quite sure who the bad guy is, especially when Zellweger and a cop friend find Lillith's parents sealing her inside their kitchen oven in an attempt to kill her. This might bring to mind either "Hansel and Gretel" or Buchenwald. Either way, it's the best, most effective scene in the film. The parents are arrested for attempted murder, and Zellweger is quite unrealistically given custody of the child.

All seems well, until people around Zellweger start getting strange calls (think the VCR tape in THE RING, again), that inspire them to kill others or themselves. Afterward, the film degenerates quickly into thorough predictablity.

Worth watching once, there's nothing here to draw you back again. CASE 39 would have been much better if it had left the viewer wondering a few things but it doesn't.