Case 39Movie Reviews

Poster art for "Case 39"

Gifts + Promos

Fandango Gift Card

Give the gift of movies with Fandango Bucks Gift Certificates! Design your own gift card, or choose from our collection.

Avengers Gift Cards

Superhero fans! Don’t miss out on these Limited Edition Avengers gift cards!

Need Help?
No
Avg. Critic Score: 25 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 50
    The New York Times | Jeannette Catsoulis

    Radiating a distinctly retro vibe, this throwaway thriller from the German director Christian Alvart tosses a bone to Rene Zellweger, who chews it to a nub as Emily Jenkins, a harried social worker. Read full review

  • 40
    Empire |

    Manages to be both very silly and highly forgettable. Only for those who collect killer-children films. Read full review

  • 38
    Boston Globe |

    Introduce the supernatural, and anything goes. Here, everything does. And that's a problem no one can solve. At least it wasn't called "Case 666." Read full review

  • 38
    Orlando Sentinel | Roger Moore

    It's only a movie, and not a remotely effective one. And for Zellweger, whose "Miss Potter" and "Appaloosa" were barely seen, with "Leatherheads" and "New in Town" further deflating her A-list clout, that's the real shame here. Read full review

  • 30
    The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck

    Director Christian Alvart ("Pandorum") is unable to invest much stylization into the proceedings, and Ray Wright's by-the-book screenplay only serves as a reminder of the innumerable demon-child movies that have preceded this one. Read full review

  • 30
    L.A. Weekly | Chuck Wilson

    Has there ever been a more inept trio of big-city caseworkers? Go ahead, Lilith. Unleash the hounds. Read full review

  • 30
    Los Angeles Times | Robert Abele

    One can't help experiencing the same dread about the exhausting flood of lackluster horror films that swamp our screens and, as Case 39 unfolds, realizing we're enduring one more. Read full review

  • 30
    Variety | Jordan Mintzer

    This ludicrous outing from helmer Christian Alvart ("Pandorum") and scribe Ray Wright ("The Crazies") takes its psycho-satanic babble much too seriously, and should elicit more laughs than frights. Read full review

  • 25
    The Onion A.V. Club | Nathan Rabin

    Zellweger has come an awful long way since Matthew McConaughey terrorized her in "Texas Chainsaw Masscare": The Next Generation, but not quite as far as she might like to imagine. Read full review

  • 16
    Entertainment Weekly |

    An aggressively inept demon-seed chiller starring a bunch of grown-ups who should've known better. Read full review

View more reviews for Case 39 on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Dull "killer kid" tale features violence involving children.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Case 39 is part of the "killer children" horror subgenre, in which children are shown to be evil and homicidal; it's a psychologically effective and scary idea, but this movie is mainly out for shocks rather than exploring anything deeper. There's lots of violence, including some scenes involving children (in one particularly disturbing sequence, adults push a girl into an oven and light it), as well as other deaths and injuries. Language includes a few uses of "f--k" and "s--t," while sex, drinking, and drugs aren't prevalent.
  • Families can talk about the movie's violence. How did it affect you? Why do you think it affected you that way?
  • As a horror movie, is Case 39 scary? Which scenes worked the best? In general, what's scarier -- blood and gore, or long, slow build-ups?
  • What makes "killer kids" like Lilith scary?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The movie suggests that evil lurks everywhere, even in the sweetest and most innocent of children. You can't trust anybody or anything, and there's never any attempt to learn anything, to turn things around for the better, or to find hope in the world.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Emily is a social worker who ostensibly wants to help children, but this doesn't come from a place of generosity. She's frustrated and stressed and apparently incapable of forming any meaningful relationships of her own. She's short and abrupt with people and quick to mistrust them. Once she decides that the child is evil, she never really tries to help; her first impulse is to try to kill the child.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Some violence involving children, including a sequence in which two parents push a girl into an oven and light it. She escapes, but the father pushes his boot into her back to stop her. They duct tape her mouth and smash her hand in the oven door. In another sequence, a boy kills his parents with a tire iron, though no actual "contact" is shown; viewers see blood on the walls and pillows. Adults fight: Viewers see a man with a broken jaw, a man gets stabbed in the neck with a fork, and another man falls on the same fork (it impales him in the eye). Also images of a woman on fire, a dog attack, shooting guns, a speeding car (with a child on board), a burning house, scary demons, and several sudden shocks.
  • sex false0 Sex: Some flirting between grown-ups.
  • language false4 Language: A couple of uses of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "hell," "ass," and "oh my God."
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: Characters drink Heineken beer in a bar.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false1 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Adults drink a beer in a bar, and the main character enjoys a glass of wine at home. The main character also grinds up sleeping pills into a cup of tea to give to the demon child.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

2.0

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

The Omen-ette Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Case 39 Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Watch All Videos

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook