CASE 39 (2010) (Some spoilers)

I really knew nothing about this movie except that my fellow badmoviephile at Hasting's said it was quite good. So I checked it out with reasonable expectations and was quite pleased to find it exceeded them by far. And for the record, I am NOT a Renee Zellweger fan at all. I have never found her to be particularly cute or talented - but she did very well in this film.

Emily (Zellweger) is a conscientious social worker for CPS who is overworked and overtired but still doing her best to help children caught in hellish home situations. She has 38 working cases already when her boss drops # 39 on her desk - a little 10 year old named Lilith (Jodelle Ferland) whose teachers are worried that she shows all the classic signs of abuse - not eating, grades dropping, seeming fearful and afraid at all times. She drops by the house to find the parents' behavior very bizarre and disturbing - a pale mother who seems terrified at all times, and a father who cannot even speak to her but whispers replies to his wife. The little girl seems terrified of them - but there is no evidence of abuse.
Emily is haunted by the case and manages to speak to Lilith alone in a follow up appointment. She says that she is afraid because she has heard her parents talk about "sedning her to hell." Emily is very concerned and talks to a policeman who is her friend, but he can't do anything without evidence of actual abuse. A few days later, Emily manages to catch Lilith after school and gives Lilith her phone number, telling her to call if she is in trouble or danger. A few nights later her phone rings at 2 AM, and Lilith is scared and crying . . . but then she passes out! Emily and the cop, Mike (Ian McShane) drive over to the house and hear a child's screams coming from inside. When they break down the door, they find that Lilith's parents have stuffer her in the oven and turned the flames on! Emily drags her out while Mike subdues the two psychotic parents, who are subsequently found to be too mentally unstable to stand trial.
Lilith is pathetically grateful to Emily and begs her to be allowed to come and live with her. Emily is reluctant at first, but she is moved by the waif's plight and asks to take her in on a foster basis. So the little girl is rescued and the lonely social worker has a family, and everyone should live happily ever after . . . right?
Wrong!!! This little girl is not what she seems! Not long after she comes to live with Emily, a young boy who was in Lilith's group therapy class murders both his parents with a tire iron. Phone records show he took a call an hour before the crime . . . from Emily's home number! Then the psychologist treating Lilith dies in a bizarre manner. Emily becomes more and more afraid of the child she has taken in . . . if indeed it is a child at all!

This is a good, solid, spooky movie, guys! Jodelle Ferland manages to be adorable and creepy at the same time, and Zellweger plays the role with just the right amount of idealism and stark terror. Well worth the rental fee!