The person that social worker Renee Zellweger is investigating in Case 39 is Jodelle Ferland an innocent little girl seemingly who seems to be crying out for intervention. The humanitarian instincts of Zellweger necessary for her occupation are aroused and she and cop Ian McShane go to the house just in time to rescue the little girl from her parents, Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry McCallum from roasting her in their oven, the kind of horrific crime that every now and then you see splashed across your evening news.

Zellweger breaks the usual bounds of professional distance when she takes it on herself to take in the child. Once she does the little girl proves not quite what she originally seems and literally sucks the humanitarianism out of her.

This will go completely over the people who are not Star Trek fans, but young Ms. Ferland reminded me so much of an evil Talosian. If you will recall in that famous pilot for Star Trek, the Talosians are blessed with the power of illusion, they can make you see and hear all kinds of things that are not there. With that they can trick you into stuff. There not evil people however, but Captain Christopher Pike when he's captured by them has to learn their secret in order to triumph.

That's what Renee has to do, overcome the power of illusion. How it all works out for her is what you have to see Case 39 for.

As for the film itself, Case 39 is a cut above a lot of these horror films, but it could have used considerable improvement in the storytelling.

CASE 39 really is a bad film. So bad that I found it to be near unwatchable, and for once it's not down to the storyline, as clichéd and predictable as it is. For anyone interested in the narrative, this tells virtually the same story as the same year's ORPHAN, concerning a little girl who's being seemingly abused by her parents and subsequently rescued by the social care system. Unfortunately the girl is hiding a dark secret...

No, the problem with CASE 39 isn't the story, as rubbishy as it is, but the casting. Renee Zellweger bags the main protagonist role and she is completely AWFUL in the part. Whether it's her wheezing, affected voice, her squinty eyes or her frankly laughable emoting, she brings down every scene in which she appears and given that she's in the film for 90% of the running time, that's not good.

Apart from Zellweger, this isn't too bad, just lacklustre. Ian McShane has a nice supporting role and it's good to see him taking a bigger physical role in the proceedings than usual. One set-piece involving an oven is truly shocking and the best bit in the film. There are a handful of supernatural scare scenes which utilise CGI but are okay - the bit with Bradley Cooper is quite amusing. I wasn't too taken with Jodelle Ferland's performance but at least she plays it subdued for two thirds of the film. But Zellweger is so poor that she makes this film near unwatchable as a result.

Emily Jenkins (Renée Zellweger) is an overworked social worker with 38 active cases. She's forced to take on another. Ten year-old Lillith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland) has been suffering. Emily suspects mistreatment from her parents (Callum Keith Rennie, Kerry O'Malley). Her parents try to cook her in the oven. Emily is able to save her just in time with the help of Detective Mike Barron (Ian McShane). She is placed under psychiatric observation of Emily's best friend, Doug Ames (Bradley Cooper). Despite not being mom material, Emily takes care of Lillith temporarily. The problem is that Lillith isn't as innocent as she seems to be.

There is a cold creepiness to the movie. It leaves the movie simmering at a slow boil for much of the movie. That's fine by me. I like the reserved moody tone. It's telling the audience that something is wrong without hitting them over the head with it. The movie uses a lot of blues to flattens the mood and chill the movie. I guess most people get tired of the slow boil but I like director Christian Alvart's sense of style. The story isn't the most exciting and there isn't really a mystery. The demon child can be seen from a mile away. Jodelle Ferland is an expert at that character. Renée Zellweger is able to hold the movie together. There is a good old-fashion creepiness about this.