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Case 39 (2010)

Director: Christian Alvart

Time Out rating

Average user rating

6 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Filmed in 2006, German director Christian Alvart’s first Hollywood feature – a dumb, glossy ‘demon child’ movie with none of the subtlety of his debut, ‘Antikörper’ – has languished on the shelf ever since. One can see why. A miscast Renée Zellweger plays social worker Emily Jenkins who, after saving ten-year-old Lilith (Jodelle Ferland) from being roasted alive in her mad parents’ oven, offers her a home.

At first, Emily thinks that Lilith is a classic damaged child, but then people start dying: one of Lilith’s classmates bludgeons his parents to death; Emily’s boyfriend is killed by a swarm of hornets. Sceptical sheriff Mike Barron (a somnambulant Ian McShane) insists that ‘a damaged, deceitful, manipulative child is not a demon’, but by now Emily’s do-gooder has pitched over into wild-eyed hysteria, raving about how Lilith is a malevolent catalyst who causes her victims to hallucinate their deepest, darkest fears. This is horror hokum of the cheesiest kind. Rent ‘Orphan’ instead.

Author: Nigel Floyd

Time Out London Issue 2063, 4-10 Mar 2010

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User reviews of this film

davejo said...

Posted on Oct 10 2010 12:48 Thought Renee was very good in this. The film did have some chilling moments.Predictable perhaps but l found it quite engrossing. Would recommend. The little girls performance was one of veiled menace.

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Thomas Noctor said...

Posted on Aug 12 2010 17:44 I don't agree the ending was predictable as most films like this end up where the kid is being adopted by the next set of foster parents and ends with an evil smile! Poor film all the same, not entertaining at all! After 5 mins I knew what was going on!

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ril7773 said...

Posted on Mar 12 2010 19:20 forgot - 4 stars..

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ril7773 said...

Posted on Mar 12 2010 19:18 This film is far better than the review, apart from the dodgy cgi hornets, It's pretty good. There are gripping moments throughout and although the ending is predictable it's a good psychological yarn..
Myself and the people around were all entertained enough with no need for much brain work to watch this.
The acting is pretty good and Rene herself very plausable in the role.
Go - If you want a decent and at times jumpy horror/thriller.
Don't go - If your expecting twists and lots of cleverness!

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Russell said...

Posted on Mar 11 2010 19:46 Don't believe all the dreadful reviews its acceptable hokum with some really jumpy moments. Admittedly there are holes in the plot that you could ride through on a horse and the casting is a little odd, apart from the little girl who is perfect for the role.. the symbolism is a little laboured too, but forget all of that and you can just switch off and watch some dumb old fashioned jumpy movie.

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Cappybear said...

Posted on Mar 11 2010 01:24 I must confess that I only went to see this film because Renee Zellweger was in it. My wife thinks that Adrian Lester is a bit of a hunk. Sadly, they're both at sea in this overlong, unpersuasive hokum which begins to unravel - not that it made any sense in the first place - around the halfway mark. After four years lying on the shelf, it makes you wonder why the film wasn't just released directly to DVD.

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