A hokey horror flop without a single fright takes custody of the Netflix charts

For any horror movie to be deemed successful, it needs to tick off three very important boxes on the critical, commercial, and boardroom fronts. The project in question needs to avoid terrible reviews, turn a profit at the box office, and provide genuine scares from the audience. Sadly, Case 39 provides none of the above.

Director Christian Alvart knew his way around pulpy genre thrills having helmed sci-fi cult favorite Pandorum as his previous feature, while adult leads Renée Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, and Ian McShane were all established and proven talents, even if much of the heavy lifting was required to be done by the teenage Jodelle Ferland.

Zellweger’s social worker ends up taking temporary custody of Ferland’s troubled 10 year-old after deciding that the cruel stewardship of her biological parents needs to be ended immediately. While waiting for a foster family to take the youngster under their roof, dark and sinister events begin to manifest around the child, but trying to protect her from harm only leads to more danger.

It’s a formulaic setup, one that’s been seen and done countless times before, but Case 39 resolutely fails to slap even the merest hint of originality or freshness onto the well-worn premise. The film barely recouped the $26 million from theaters, and a 21% Rotten Tomatoes score hammers home the banality on display.

And yet, Case 39 is fast becoming one of the most popular movies on Netflix this week, as per FlixPatrol. The decade-old chiller without a genuine fright to be found across its 109 minutes is currently a Top 10 hit in nine countries split over two continents, so don’t be surprised if it manages to fly even higher.