Case 39

Rating: ***

EMILY Jenkins (Zellweger) is a dedicated child services official who finds herself getting too involved in a case where the girl is potentially being abused by her parents. Jenkins ends up taking her in only the girl may not be who she seems,as suddenly people around her start dying mysteriously and brutally.

Case 39 has all it takes for a film such as this—the spooks,the acting,the menace,and an innocent child as the face of evil. The problem is it seems too familiar to a recent film,Orphan,which had the added advantage of a family with children being the potential victims. Here the threat is only to Zellweger,and sad that it is,she matches up poorly as an object of empathy.