Case 39 Review: Can’t Be Saved

The greatest feeling to walk away with after watching a scary movie is uncontrollable terror. I had nightmares after The Ring, but I also went back to watch it for the second time. Scary movie mission accomplished! And let’s be honest, the idea of children, to a single 25-year old like me, is real world terrifying. So when you add the supernatural element, you can pretty much bet that I’ll be scared beyond belief. Not so much this time.

In Case 39, Renée Zellweger plays Emily Jenkins, a social worker already bogged down with 38 cases, when she gets the titular one. Emily is caring but lonely. She puts all her effort into helping others while coming home to an empty apartment. All that and having had a rough childhood, you can see Emily as easy prey from 50 miles away. After meeting Lillith (Jodelle Ferland) and her odd, reclusive parents, played by Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O’Malley, Emily turns to her detective friend Mike (Ian McShane) for his help in rescuing the little, abused girl. No one wants to help, but the lady just won’t give up, and the two arrive just in time to save Lillith before she meets a toasty and gruesome death.

What ensues afterwards is your typical horror fare. Emily fosters Lillith and weird things start happening to those closest to Emily, like Mike and her psychologist friend Doug (Bradley Cooper), and even kids from other cases. Still, who can believe the crazy person who’s completely wrapped up in and paranoid over this tiny, ineffectual child? So it’s up to Emily to see past the unassuming guise and send the devil back to where it belongs…Hell.

Case 39’s creepy, little antagonist is modeled in the vain of The Omen, The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, an unassuming kid who actually is just the pretty wrapping for the devil or the devil’s spawn. Normally, I don’t mind the fact that it’s a story I’ve seen time and time again. Recycled territory is what we’ve come to know and love with a scary film, as long as there’s terror or suspense. Unfortunately as Case 39 progressed, all I wanted to scream was, “just scare me already!”

The story unfolds pretty linearly and each choice and action, the viewer can see a mile away. Ray Wright’s (The Crazies, Pulse) screenplay builds no tension. There’s no scene particularly surprising or of note. It all felt very “paint by numbers.” Director Christian Alvart (Pandorum) relied so heavily on the “BOO” trick at every turn that by the fifth or sixth time something popped up out of nowhere, the entire auditorium was laughing. A random viewer even planted their own “AHH” scream at the perfect moment which made the whole audience laugh even harder. I usually hate that kind of disruption, but it was more entertaining than the film at the time.

Overall, the acting was actually good. Ferland definitely creeped me out, though her high-pitched, sugary voice got kind of annoying by the end of the film and disturbed me less and less, which I don’t believe was the intention. Unfortunately, they seemed to shy away from even allowing the audience to see her as anything remotely scary, even when the protagonist had already figured out the truth for herself. Zellweger was effectively emotional and distraught, even when the film had reached the point of utter ridiculousness. I still believed her in all that absurdity. What intrigued me the most, while I was watching, was the chemistry between Zellweger and Cooper. I kept thinking, “I can now see why he’s so into her.” There were fireworks reflected in his eyes in every scene they had together.

But it’s never a good sign when I start thinking like US Weekly while watching a movie meant to make me want to pee my pants. Now I know why the film, originally debuting in 2008, was shelved initially. If I were you, I’d go see Let Me In instead, if you’re looking to be scared and/or thrilled. You’ll get almost none of that here.