CASE 39 starts out as an interesting drama, becomes tense and frightening as any good horror movie should, and then sells out in the end with simply too many special effects for the sake of inducing nightmares in the audience to retain its potential stature as a very fine Grand Guignol film.
Emily (Renée Zellweger) is an overworked but committed family problems case worker, investigating homes that seem to breed dysfunctional children. She has some fine associates - psychologist Doug (Bradley Cooper in a fine performance), case manager Wayne (Adrian Lester), and detective Mike Barron (Ian McShane). Emily takes on Case 39, a 10 year old child Lily (Jodelle Ferland) who seems to be terrified of her parents. Emily visits the home, befriends Lily, then discovers that Lily's parents - especially father (Callum Keith Sullivan) - are attempting to kill her. The parents are arrested and placed in a mental institution and out of a sense of duty and caring Emily manages to become the temporary foster parent of the deeply disturbed Lily. It seems Lily has strange powers and those powers include discovering the basic fears of those around her and playing on those fears in a manner that has disastrous results. As Emily grows to understand Lily she sees the connection with evil incarnate and the remainder of the film is how Emily and the world deal with this creature from the dark world.
Each of the actors makes the most of a script that has far too many holes in it: it seems that the writer (Ray Wright) and director (Christian Alvart) couldn't decide on whether they wanted to create a truly terrifying psychological drama or simply go off the deep end and opt for over the top CGI effects. Zellweger manages to find fine screen chemistry with Cooper and McShane, but that doesn't make up for the seemingly endless chaos the film elects as its center. Good potential - should have been re-edited.
Grady Harp
Emily (Renée Zellweger) is an overworked but committed family problems case worker, investigating homes that seem to breed dysfunctional children. She has some fine associates - psychologist Doug (Bradley Cooper in a fine performance), case manager Wayne (Adrian Lester), and detective Mike Barron (Ian McShane). Emily takes on Case 39, a 10 year old child Lily (Jodelle Ferland) who seems to be terrified of her parents. Emily visits the home, befriends Lily, then discovers that Lily's parents - especially father (Callum Keith Sullivan) - are attempting to kill her. The parents are arrested and placed in a mental institution and out of a sense of duty and caring Emily manages to become the temporary foster parent of the deeply disturbed Lily. It seems Lily has strange powers and those powers include discovering the basic fears of those around her and playing on those fears in a manner that has disastrous results. As Emily grows to understand Lily she sees the connection with evil incarnate and the remainder of the film is how Emily and the world deal with this creature from the dark world.
Each of the actors makes the most of a script that has far too many holes in it: it seems that the writer (Ray Wright) and director (Christian Alvart) couldn't decide on whether they wanted to create a truly terrifying psychological drama or simply go off the deep end and opt for over the top CGI effects. Zellweger manages to find fine screen chemistry with Cooper and McShane, but that doesn't make up for the seemingly endless chaos the film elects as its center. Good potential - should have been re-edited.
Grady Harp