Case 39

Case 39 is a 2009 American supernatural horror film directed by Christian Alvart, and starring Renée Zellweger, Jodelle Ferland, Bradley Cooper and Ian McShane. The film revolves on a social worker who attempts to protect a girl from her violent parents but finds that things are more dangerous than she had expected. Plot Emily Jenkins is assigned to investigate the family of 10-year-old Lillith Sullivan, as her grades have declined and an emotional rift with her parents has emerged. Emily suspects that the parents have been abusing Lillith, and proposes to her department to take the child away from her parents' custody. Emily's fears are confirmed when Lillith's parents try to kill her by putting her in their oven. Emily saves Lillith with the help of Detective Mike Barron. Lillith is to be sent to a children's home but she begs Emily to look after her instead. With the agreement of the board, Emily is assigned to take care of Lillith until a suitable foster family comes along. In the meantime, Lillith's parents are placed in a mental institution. After Lillith moves in, strange things begin to happen around Emily. Two weeks later another of Emily's cases, a boy named Diego, murders his parents, and Barron informs Emily that somebody phoned Diego from her house the night before the crime. As she is suspected of involvement in the incident, Lillith undergoes a psychiatric evaluation by Emily's best friend, Douglas J. Ames. During the session, Lillith turns the evaluation around, asking Douglas what his fears are and subtly threatening him. That night, after receiving a strange phone call at his apartment, Douglas is panicked by the sight of a mass of hornets coming out of his body and kills himself by snapping his own neck.