Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Well, this is definately a horror story, a bit unusually ploted, its also a drama and a thriller. i did like the horrish angle come through ms zellweger, and the feeling youll never get rid of that black shadow in your life. ive never heard of case 39,and it was a pleasure to watch. dont elevate your expectations , just delve into it

I really enjoyed this movie for the first half part of it. It was such a pity that, somehow, at a certain moment, much earlier than I should, I understood who was the guilty part of those crimes. It was like predictable for me, in a certain way. In my opinion, there was a story writing defect that first wanted to keep you all as surprise but then you could have a quite clear idea on what should come further. Very good interpretation of Renee, as usual.

After taking on a new case, a social worker manages to save the young girl she's in charge of and takes her on as an adoptive child, but when a series of strange accidents befall her friends she suspects something is wrong with the little girl and tries to keep them safe.This one wasn't all that bad of an effort when it really tried. One of the more enjoyable elements within this one is the fact that there's a great build-up to whatever kind of person the girl is, and lets off its suspenseful tone rather nicely here. This one does a rather nice job with the way the evident danger about her is revealed, from the initial struggles about the family trying to cruelly torture her and the action-packed rescue attempt to get her out of the situation gives this a stylish start. This is admirably paid off with the second half here that builds to some rather fine moments here involving the manipulations of other people around her at the clinic which features plenty of gruesome moments with the crime-scene recreation at the beginning to the absolutely fun background check that occurs here to get the full story revealed that gives these scenes a shocking amount of weight behind them. This gets heavily improved during the fine retribution sequences where she goes out and convinces the others around her to start committing grisly acts of violence in strong accidents, from the encounter with the flies in the bathroom to the antics against her parents which have a strong vibe against them through the hallucinations she forces upon them, and the final big attack at the police station gives this a rather fun and enjoyable finish that sets up the tense finale which is what ends this on a high note. As well as the nice gore attacks and some decent enough make- up work on the demon entity at the heart of this all, it has a lot to like which manages to hold this up enough over the few minor flaws. The major issue with this one is the fact that there's very little new ground here in terms of where the story comes from. It feels really cliché and doesn't really do much different than dozens of other efforts in this style which really sets this one up to really be quite apparent from the get-go. That does end up lowering the surprise factor in so many of the scenes later on when she starts in on her evil antics as it manages to go where you expect it to and features so many expected moments because of the familiar setup. Likewise, there's little reason to understand why she keeps getting away with everything as she always seems to be in the center of everything and the lack of action to take her out makes no sense. Other than these issues, it's not all that bad of an effort.Rated R: Violence, Language and intense themes of children-in- jeopardy.

I am a Renee Zellwegger fan. Comedic acting is the hardest genre to achieve successfully, yet she succeeds doing it. I was happy to see her in a different type role and she pulled it off very well. She makes a believable social worker, appearing naturally caring and good with children, and then as the movie progresses at a very nice even pace, her suspicions and then terror comes across believably. Every actor in this movie did an excellent, top notch job. The story and plot moved at just the right pace to keep me engaged and interested. Fast enough to keep my mind from jumping ahead and guessing outcomes, full enough to care about the characters. The direction, camera work, editing (seamless)and score were all superb. Although it I a bit dated now, I still enjoy pulling it up on a rainy lazy day and re-watching it.