LoginI had no idea what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I’m not surprised that this movie was released in the US three years after it was actually completed. Seriously, even if it might not be Renée Zellweger’s worst movie, it wasn’t far from it, I’m afraid. Back then, her career was not going so good and she would even take a 6 years hiatus soon after this movie was released. She would eventually come back with a completely different face (but that’s a different story…). Coming back to the movie itself, well, it was pretty obvious during the first minutes that there was something fishy about this kid. To be honest, I never really cared about the horror genre dealing with evil kids but this one was even harder to swallow than usual. Indeed, it really rubbed me in the wrong way that someone working for social services would suddenly be convinced that the little girl she was taking care of was apparently some kind of demon. Seriously, the whole concept felt really misguided or, at least, terribly distasteful. Basically, the conclusion of this movie was that her parents were actually right to put her into an oven, she apparently deserved it but I’m not sure if this is really how we should judge foster children and the parents who might have mistreated them. At least, the death scene involving Bradley Cooper (before he got his breakthrough with ‘The Hangover’) was pretty creepy but that’s probably the only scene that actually worked for me. Sure, you might argue that, since it is a horror movie, I shouldn’t take it too seriously but there was something rather unsettling, and not in a positive way, to see all these grown-ups suddenly trying to kill a foster kid. Anyway, to conclude, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing and I don’t think it is really worth a look.
Case 39 (2009) Reviews
An average movie
Posted : 1 year, 9 months ago on 21 July 2022 12:46
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Just Plain Dumb
Posted : 13 years, 1 month ago on 16 March 2011 09:10
This movie was just plain dumb. It wasnt even scary. It tried so hard to be original but it wasnt. We have seen a demon child before, and it didnt even make that fun to watch. The acting was very bad, except for the little kid. Cooper once again over acts like he always does. Just a bad movie I wish I never watched.
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Case 39 (2009) review
Posted : 13 years, 4 months ago on 21 December 2010 01:04
Case 39 was directed by Christian Alvart and written by Ray Wright. Alvart is unknown and while I can’t say he hasn’t done anything substantial as I haven’t seen anything else he’s done, I’m going to go ahead and say that this was his break through piece. The same can be said of Wright with the exception to The Crazies which he has written then screenplay for.
The film is about Emily (Zellweger), a social worker with a big heart and empty home. As with all women who go into public service, Emily is damaged by a mildly toxic childhood and has no real friends, family or love life to speak of. Already swamped with 38 cases of children with this that or the other wrong with them, she gets hit with, you guessed it, her 39th case. This case is about Lilith (Jodelle Ferland), who on paper is an antisocial, underweight ten year-old with a sudden drop in academia. Emily goes to visit Lilith and her family and is greeted by a situation that does indeed look abusive. Since there are no physical evidences to prove the child is being beaten, she’s left there. Don’t you just love the system?
Emily goes to visit Lilith at school after being repeatedly denied the go-ahead to remove Lilith from her home. Emily sees how visibly shaken and scared the girl is, so she does what any professional would do and gives her her home phone number. She calls that night apologizing in advance for falling asleep because they’re going to come get her. So of course, Emily goes to get her. She arrives just in time to rescue her from her parents baking her.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7suT9JdLJc
This is the oven scene. It’s worth a look. They really do try to bake her.
Okay so long story short, the girl is a demon and her parents were trying to send her back to hell. Instead Emily adopts her and Lilith ruins her life.
I’ve noticed from reading other reviews that the majority of fellow bloggers are being really hard on this movie. I really liked it, even more so after doing the research to find out who was behind it. IMDB is such a powerful tool. Know your stuff, kids.
The plot is well developed, the characters are dynamic, Ferland did a bloody brilliant job acting out the character change over from victim to villain. There were even a few scenes I watched on playback. I would not classify this as horror. There was only one scene that I felt frightened because of and I can give the credit of that to my womb drying up every time I think of having children. As far as a psychological thriller goes, this film is aces.
I wish the ending were more conclusive, but with most films of it’s actual (not intended) genre, they never are, and thus I am able to forgive.
My official rating:
as horror: **
as psychological thriller: ****
The film is about Emily (Zellweger), a social worker with a big heart and empty home. As with all women who go into public service, Emily is damaged by a mildly toxic childhood and has no real friends, family or love life to speak of. Already swamped with 38 cases of children with this that or the other wrong with them, she gets hit with, you guessed it, her 39th case. This case is about Lilith (Jodelle Ferland), who on paper is an antisocial, underweight ten year-old with a sudden drop in academia. Emily goes to visit Lilith and her family and is greeted by a situation that does indeed look abusive. Since there are no physical evidences to prove the child is being beaten, she’s left there. Don’t you just love the system?
Emily goes to visit Lilith at school after being repeatedly denied the go-ahead to remove Lilith from her home. Emily sees how visibly shaken and scared the girl is, so she does what any professional would do and gives her her home phone number. She calls that night apologizing in advance for falling asleep because they’re going to come get her. So of course, Emily goes to get her. She arrives just in time to rescue her from her parents baking her.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7suT9JdLJc
This is the oven scene. It’s worth a look. They really do try to bake her.
Okay so long story short, the girl is a demon and her parents were trying to send her back to hell. Instead Emily adopts her and Lilith ruins her life.
I’ve noticed from reading other reviews that the majority of fellow bloggers are being really hard on this movie. I really liked it, even more so after doing the research to find out who was behind it. IMDB is such a powerful tool. Know your stuff, kids.
The plot is well developed, the characters are dynamic, Ferland did a bloody brilliant job acting out the character change over from victim to villain. There were even a few scenes I watched on playback. I would not classify this as horror. There was only one scene that I felt frightened because of and I can give the credit of that to my womb drying up every time I think of having children. As far as a psychological thriller goes, this film is aces.
I wish the ending were more conclusive, but with most films of it’s actual (not intended) genre, they never are, and thus I am able to forgive.
My official rating:
as horror: **
as psychological thriller: ****
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Case 39 (2009) review
Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 16 October 2010 04:47
blimey didnt see this little beauty coming along - renee zellweger always reminds me of bridgette jones - sign of a good performance maybe? so I was dubious when I saw her in it - but 'wd' Renee - great performance in a well above average horror. Nice to see some originality coming along. cliche..mmm.. apart from that as an added bonus you get to see 'LoveJoy' was a convincing american accent and the black guy from hustle.
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