Case 39 (2010)
Average Rating: 4/10
Reviews Counted: 71
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 55
Director Christian Alvert has a certain stylish flair, but it's wasted on Case 39's frightless, unoriginal plot.
Average Rating: 2.6/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 9
Director Christian Alvert has a certain stylish flair, but it's wasted on Case 39's frightless, unoriginal plot.
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Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 66,078
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Movie Info
In CASE 39, family services social worker Emily Jenkins (Renée Zellweger) thinks she has seen it all... until she meets 10-year old Lilith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland) and the child's cruel and dangerous parents. Her worst fears are confirmed when the parents try to harm Lily, their only daughter. Frightened for her life, Emily enlists the help of Detective Mike Barron (Ian McShane) and takes Lily in while she continues the search for the perfect foster family. Just as it seems as though Lily is
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Cast
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Renée Zellweger
Emily Jenkins -
Jodelle Ferland
Lilith Sullivan -
Ian McShane
Det. Mike Barron, Detec... -
Bradley Cooper
Doug, Doug Ames -
Callum Keith Rennie
Edward Sullivan -
Adrian Lester
Wayne -
Kerry O'Malley
Margaret Sullivan -
Cynthia Stevenson
Nancy -
Alexander Conti
Diego -
Philip Cabrita
Javier -
Vanesa Tomasino
Javier's Wife -
Mary Black
Custody Judge -
Domenico D'Ambrosio
Plainclothes Cop -
Benita Ha
Therapist -
John Carroll
Judge -
Michael Bean
Co-Worker -
Lesley Ewan
Co-Worker -
David Patrick Green
Chief Psychiatrist -
Deejay Jackson
Bus Driver -
Taya Calicetto
Young Emily -
Alisen Down
Emily's Mother -
Darryl Quon
Inmate -
Suzanne Bastien
Nurse -
Jane Braithwaite
Nurse -
Fulvio Cecere
Fire Marshall -
Colin Lawrence
Police Sergeant -
Dagmar Midcap
News Anchor -
Fran Gebhard
Coordinator -
Bill Mondy
Interviewer -
Andrew Airlie
Doctor -
Sarah-Jane Redmond
Barron's Wife -
Charles Zuckermann
Demon Person -
Yvonne Valdez
Mrs. Lynch -
Paul Duchart
Priest -
Daniel Bacon
Businessperson -
Darren E. "Choo" Scott
Young Cop -
Dallas Blake
Detention Center Cop -
Phillip Mitchell
Lead Guard
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Case 39 Trailer & Photos
All Critics (71) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (56) | DVD (2)
It's a bummer when the audience is smarter than the protagonist.
Top CriticFrom a bevy of cheesy jolt scares (alarm clock! barking dog!) to the embarrassing sight of Zellweger and Ian McShane treating this Orphan-style B-movie silliness with grave seriousness, the film proves to be one hokey-horror riot.
By the time the killings start, it's clear that Ray Wright's screenplay is more interested in following formula than in breaking new ground.
The devil made them do it, but that doesn't mean you have to see it.
[Plays] like one more piece of multiplex in-box clutter, ready for the circular file in our moviegoing consciousness.
An aggressively inept demon-seed chiller starring a bunch of grown-ups who should've known better.
The end of Zellweger as we've known her.
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.
[A] dumb thriller.
...a decent little horror flick...
Directed by Christian Alvart (Pandorum) with a less than giddy hand, Case 39 is truly terrible. But at least it scores a few 'so bad it's good' points.
Not only is Case 39 deplorable and morally off-center, the film is dull to boot.
What starts out as slight and fairly obvious turns into a frequently colorful horror tale.
Neither the the direction acting nor is the problem here. It's the script that does the picture in. (Blu-ray Edition)
...we get a couple of moments of genuine suspense combined with a whole lot of cheap thrills.
What do you do with a crummy horror movie that has been sitting on the shelf for a couple, or maybe three, years?
... before the movie is half over, the usual cliches take over ...
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.
What do you do with a crummy horror movie that has been sitting on the shelf for a couple, or maybe three, years?
Neither so awful as to be enjoyable nor eerily artful enough to be anything other than a snoozy also-ran.
in the meantime, director Christian Alvart went on to make the effectively moody "Pandorum," but this movie is a dud.
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.
Unremarkable except for its subversive subtext.
As demonic children movies go, it?s really not bad -- and the acting makes it seem a little better than that.
Audience Reviews for Case 39
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Emily Jenkins: Are you scared?[Lilith is trembling] Well I'm not...
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- Wayne: I interviewed many children till now, but never felt like this.
- Emily Jenkins: How did you feel?
- Wayne: Threatened.
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- Lilith Sullivan: What are you doing, you silly pumpkinhead.
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- Emily Jenkins: They say when you're born you're given your eternal soul. The part of you that lives on, lives again. Whatever evil she is,didn't come from us. It was already there. From the moment she came into being, she brought something with her. Something older, destructive. Soul of a demon.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| undeserved bad reviews | 42 days ago | 0 |
| undeserved bad reviews | 42 days ago | 0 |
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Foreign Titles
- Fall 39 (DE)
- Expediente 39 (ES)
