Case 39 is a psychological thriller with a bent towards horror. Don’t expect one of those in-vogue hack and slash type movies which use special effects to make you squirm but rather something that plays with your mind. This does not mean that there are no scenes that do this but they are woven into the story in an intelligent manner that makes sense and are justifiable in the context of the story.
An unusual role for Renée Zellweger (you don’t see her in many horror genre movies). She plays a character that has a big heart that is manipulated by an evil young girl that tugs on here heartstrings played by an excellent young lady Jodelle Ferland.
The cool thing about this movie is that it draws you into the world in a way that makes you sympathetic to the child character and then it switches you to the other adult characters. The transformation in your loyalties is done over the first third of the film, after that you just want the young girl to go away and die!
As far as special effects goes there are some interesting scenes that you will find very cool or very disturbing (based on how much you can stomach). The effects are there to support the story rather than just eye candy. It’s nice to see that the producers and director showed restraint in what they put on the screen (hence the term psychological thriller).
The ending will (should) satisfy your desire for justice, the interesting thing is that the Blu ray version has an alternative ending which worked just as well (worth a look along with the rest of the deleted scenes).
Overall a nice tidy movie that is well executed but has crept in under the radar, it’s worth a couple of hours of your time.
Egg Rating: 8/10
a blog by eggbox 