Case 39 (2009)

(In French, On Cable TV, January 2022) There’s an interesting misdirection early in Case 39 when all signs point to a child being abused by her parents. But since that plot thread wraps up at the end of the first act, there’s clearly more to the story than adults trying to kill their kid. As the social worker on the case takes an adorable little girl home, the real shape of the story eventually develops—and gives splendid reasons to the adults for trying to stuff their adopted daughter into an oven. At its best, Case 39 is a bit wild, and greatly enhanced by a few good casting choices. For Renée Zellweger, playing the kind-hearted case worker means a relatively rare genre film excursion and she’s not bad at it. Jodelle Ferland gets an early great lead role as the unspeakably evil young girl, Ian McShane brings some gravitas to a stock character, but it’s Bradley Cooper who’s most interesting here: Dating from his pre-stardom days playing doomed boyfriends in horror films (also see 2008’s The Midnight Meat Train—Case 39 was actually completed in 2007), watching him here now has a different connotation than upon the film’s release: We expect him to last much longer than he does. It all adds to a straightforward but well-executed horror film that deals in (eventually) obvious matters but does so with a certain zip. The ending disappoints, though: after setting up its antagonist as someone with near-unlimited powers and bringing her back for a few encores, the climax of the film ends up being somewhat perfunctory after some better-handled moments in the third act. Still, not a bad pick—and at a time when horror films were going for the rough-and-gritty found-footage style, Case 39 marks a welcome return to a more conventional style.