Social worker Emily (Renee Zellwegger) takes on the titular case, concerning Lilith "Lily" Sullivan, a young girl whose parents seem to have bad intentions for her. Emily's bosses don't see enough evidence for a Child Protective Services intervention, but Emily is convinced something bad is going to happen when Lily tells her her parents want to send her to Hell.
Emily's worst fears are realized and she has to save Lily from a horrific murder attempt. The parents are sent to an insane asylum and Lily is allowed to live with Emily until a proper foster family can be found.
Unsurprisingly, Lily starts acting creepy and folks start dying. Yep, it's a creepy kid movie. And they picked a pretty good creepy kid for the role, seeing as this is the young actress who played the creepy girl in Silent Hill and Patience Buckner in The Cabin In The Woods.
Case 39 plays out a bit like that old Twilight Zone episode where everybody has to think happy thoughts or the kid will send them to "the cornfield." It's also a ripoff of The Ring. And The Omen. And probably some other movies.
There are a few moments of shocking violence to wake you up, and some laughable computer effects (like the digital horseflies crawling all over Bradley Cooper), but otherwise it's a pretty dull affair.
It's also overlong and has as many false endings as Return of the King. There are a few places where it could have had a decent, downeriffic ending, but instead it keeps going to a confusing, unsatisfying conclusion.
If you are looking for a good creepy kid movie, try one of the movies this one rips off, like The Omen. Or if you want a more recent one, check out Orphan. In any case, it's hard to make a case for Case 39.
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