Case 39

The biggest mystery in Case 39 is not found in the plot, but behind the scenes. Why is the studio deciding to give this film a release now when it's been sitting on their shelf gathering dust since being filmed back in 2006? Some say it's due to the recent popularity of Bradley Cooper (who was a relative unknown back when he filmed this), but he only has a supporting role, and exits halfway through the film. That being said, there's not a lot to notice here. This is a limp supernatural thriller that is mostly inert. It almost becomes a guilty pleasure due to how ridiculous the film gets as it goes along, but it just doesn't go far enough.

The film stars Renee Zellweger, giving a performance that is mostly comprised of her staring blankly at her fellow co-stars and the things going on around her. She plays Emily Jenkins, an overworked social worker who already has a full workload, but decides to focus all of her attention on the latest case that her boss (Adrian Lester) drops on her desk. It involves a little girl named Lilith (Jodelle Ferland) who might be in danger because of her religious zealot parents (Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O'Malley). Emily visits Lilith's home, and hears terrifying stories from the little girl about how her parents claim that they are going to kill her and send her to Hell. When Emily tries to get her statements on tape, the girl clamps up out of fear from her father. Emily knows that something is going on, so she enlists her police detective friend Barron (Ian McShane, who always looks like he's just waiting for the director to yell "cut" so he can run off and cash his paycheck in each scene) to help her investigate.

This is the first of many times that the plot raised a red flag in my mind while I was watching it. Emily has absolutely no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing, and at this point in the film, Barron has spent no time around the little girl and the family. But, he is completely willing to go along with Emily to Lilith's home and break down the door, drawing his gun. It's a good thing there actually is something going on, as when they break into the house, they catch the parents trying to shove their screaming daughter into an oven. The crazed parents are sent to an asylum for their statements that their daughter is actually a demon from Hell, and they were performing God's will. Meanwhile, Emily decides to invite Lilith into her home until a proper foster family can be found.

Bad move on Emily's part, as it's about here that little Lilith takes a total about face from an innocent victim, to a manipulative little brat with supernatural powers that can kill. Yes, Case 39 is yet another "evil child" movie, a genre that we seem to get at least once a year these days. The little hellspawn first shows her evil intentions to Emily's good friend Doug (Bradley Cooper), who acts as Lilith's therapist. He becomes afraid for himself when Lilith starts digging into has past during their conversations, trying to find out his fears so she can use them against him. Next, one of Emily's other child cases (a little boy) winds up brutally murdering his parents in their sleep, seemingly after receiving a phone call from Lilith. The problem with the screenplay by Ray Wright (2010's The Crazies) is that it never really shines any light on why Lilith is doing these things, or what she hopes to achieve. "She's just evil" is really the only answer we get.

While all this is going on, the movie never really builds to any level of suspense. Everything is surprisingly low key, even when those close to Emily start turning up dead. The total lack of tension becomes infuriating, and the movie seems to know this, so it starts relying on cheap jump scares to jolt the audience awake every now and then. We get alarm clocks suddenly going off, angry dogs appearing out of nowhere to bark fiercely at the characters, and innocent people who like to sneak up on others and bang on their windows and doors as loud as possible. This is all in the effort to make the audience jump in their seats, which I can admire, but when it's all the movie's got, it becomes annoying. Rather than fearing for Emily's safety having the little demon in her house, we start anticipating what the next jump scare will be.

To be honest, Case 39 is not terrible. It's much too bland to raise much anger within a viewer. Plus, the movie has some technical merits, including strong cinematography by Hagen Bogdanski. But so what, if the movie can't even be motivated to create one genuine scare or make us care about what's going on? A great horror movie can do a lot more than just scare us. Too bad this one seems too timid to even attempt that.

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