Case 39

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Pete Townshend lied to us: The kids are not alright. Spooky kid movies have been with us since 1956's The Bad Seed and has thrown up delights in Village of the Damned, The Exorcist, The Omen and, more recently, Ils and Orphan. Case 39 will not be added to that list.

Renee Zellwegger plays Emily Jenkins, a child welfare officer overloaded with the 38 cases on her desk. She's seen some pretty horrible stuff in her time but Case 39 is nothing like she has experienced before. Emily calls to the house of 10-year-old Lilith Sullivan (Ferland), who has overheard her parents say that they are 'going to send her to hell.' The visit confirms one thing: mother Margaret (Kerry O'Malley) is a nervous wreck and father Edward (Callum Keith Rennie) is a sullen, emotional manipulator. There's something rotten in Denmark here alright. Before she can delve into the case, Emily receives a phone call in the middle of the night from a distressed and scared Lillith, begging Emily to come help her.

We're all suffering from The Hangover now. Like the dreadful All About Steve, Case 39 was made some time ago but has been under lock and key since. On the back of Bradley Cooper's newfound fame, thanks to last year's hit comedy, it has been deemed releasable. Cooper is reaching for the Asprin right now. Pandorum director Christian Alvart doesn't have the skill to find anything fresh in this tired old tale, but he isn't given much to work with in a script written by Pulse and The Crazies scribe Ray Wright. Working fine for the opening act, Case 39 switches from a thriller to the supernatural and the jump is a clunky one. The spooks and scares are fluffed (we're treated to the usual LOUD NOISE jump) but the biggest misstep is left for the dumb and predictable (anti) climax. Along the way the audience is treated to some shabby and lazy plot developments.

None of the blame can be laid at the door of young Jodelle Ferland, who has an uncanny ability to turn from sweet to evil at the drop of a hat and limit that change to only her eyes. Her performance rises far above the miscast Zellwegger and McShane.