Case 39 Ten-year-old Lilith's parents (Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O'Malley, both terrific) want to "send her to Hell," which must be why they're digging that deep hole in the cellar. Called out to investigate a report of abuse, Portland social worker Emily Jenkins (Renee Zellweger) takes a shine to pretty and sweet but demonic Lilith (Jodelle Ferland), who comes to live with Emily after the folks fail in their attempt to burn their daughter alive in the kitchen oven (which is conveniently large). Director Christian Alvart (Pandorum) stages the kid-in-the-oven scene with gusto, and also has fun with a death-by-swarming-hornets sequence a bit later, but one wishes he'd brought a similar vigor to trimming down Ray Wright's (The Crazies) dull-witted screenplay. Case 39, which was reportedly filmed in 2006 and then shelved by unenthused studio execs, has some genuinely creepy moments, but it's way too long, and often slows to a crawl as Emily and her colleagues, played by Bradley Cooper and Ian McShane, talk, talk, talk about whether it could possibly be Lilith who's prompting those around her to commit murder and suicide. Has there ever been a more inept trio of big-city caseworkers? Go ahead, Lilith. Unleash the hounds. (C.W.)

109 minutes Rated R

Catfish Catfish comes in at 89 minutes--just long enough to sustain the suspense in a setup that starts to play out like pure vérité horror (or "reality thriller," as it's being billed), just short enough to retreat from the squirmy destination it arrives at without going further than an ogle and the meaningless non-explanation of the title metaphor. Nev Schulman, a New York City photographer, begins a Facebook relationship with a precocious eight-year old painter living in Michigan--then her mother, and her flirtatious 19-year-old sister. The entire process, including a developing Inbox courtship with sis Megan, is documented by Schulman's brother, Ariel, and friend, Henry Joost. Why keep a camera trained on those chat boxes? And why is every fresh revelation toward Nev and Megan's eventual meeting so well-staged? There is much here that is hard to swallow--if the viewer is being fished in, and how honest the filmmakers' surprise at the surprise twists of Catfish is, are things known only to them and God. Whatever the case, the result is a briskly paced and callow film, with its perhaps-unintended subject the yearning for fame and appreciation--the quiet self-pitying desperation of the Michigan Sunday painter, and the loud self-congratulatory desperation of the Schulmans in Manhattan. (N.P.)

89 minutes Rated PG-13