Research: Case 39

CASE 39

Case 39 is a 2009 horror film directed by Christian Alvart and stars Renée Zellweger, Jodelle Ferland, and Ian McShane. The film was shot in Vancouver in late 2006. The film is about a socila worker Emily Jenkins that is assigned to investigate the family of 10 year old Lilith Sullivan as her grades have dropped and an emotional rift between her parents has slowly emerged. Lilith is the sent to a children’s home, when Emily Jenkins fears that Lilith is being abused were confirmed when they attempted to roast Lilith the oven, the parents were taken to a mental asylum

The way that the film interprets the horror genre, is by the use of music, lighting and shots. By the variety of interpretations used, this then attracts an audience.

The use of music within the trailer is very dark and mysterious giving a very scary feel to the whole trailer. It has an initial use of percussion used to create a heartbeat with the use of string instruments underneath creating tension. It also makes you jump with the use of loud bangs when the trailer speeds up and when the trailer calms down and things seem to settle the use of a piano is used which also calms our mood as well as the mood in the trailer.

The lighting in this trailer is at times very light involving day light or well lit offices etc and where the trailer becomes scary the lighting is very dark and gloomy involving forced lighting from , giving a very uneasy feel to the trailer, however there is natural light involved in the shots from the sun through windows etc.

There are many shots used in the trailer, mainly wide shots and a lot of tight shots involving just the head of head and shoulders rarely whole body shots. Between most shots it fades to black, so the shots are a montage of shots that are unrelated that tell a story between the black fades that dissolve and like the trailer together.




This shot relates back to Un Chien Andolou 1929 – Brunel and Dali, involving ants which are a typical shots to Un Chien Andolou.







The target audience for this film is mainly aimed at adults as the storyline can only be fully understood by those with adult sensibilities. It has a female heroine and the storyline involves care of a young girl suggesting that maybe people that are involved in care would want to watch the film.

The film was classified at a certificate 12, so therefore may appeal to a wider audience than the usual horror audience because it would obviously involve limits to the horror that will be shown.