The Rule of Jenny Pen - Film Review

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With a running time of 105 minutes and rated MA 15+, The Rule of Jenny Pen is directed by James Ashcroft, and stars John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush and George Henare. It will be released in cinemas nationally on 20 March 2025.

While presiding over a trial, soon after judgement, cantankerous Judge Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush) suffers a stroke and is forced into a retirement home. Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, the Judge soon learns that fellow resident Dave Crealy (John Lithgow) has long been terrorising residents in the 'home'. It's not long before the 'Judge' comes across Crealy's radar, to become one of the targets of this manipulative and sinister fellow resident who stalks the halls at night. How will this former Judge, who has set himself in a deadly conflict with the tyrant, stop an elderly psychopath who employs a hand-puppet baby doll called Jenny Pen, to abuse the home's residents with deadly consequences.


A little thought runs through my head as I watch the film, akin to The Ode of Remembrance - recited at Australian Anzac Day services to commemorate wartime sacrifice. About how 'age shall not weary them' - to see these two powerhouse actors, Rush and Lithgow, go head to head in this thriller. Their crowns may be grey, but their brilliance shines through and refuses to be diminished. A little bit demented, and a little dread-soaked, I'm not sure what I was more afraid of. The sudden pouncing of the tyrant, and the dread of wondering when he may attack or that all that happens in a nursing home goes largely unnoticed, ignored, and swept to the side - where no one believes you. I do believe the more mature in age you are, the more this film is going to hit you on a psychological level, as it's soaked in the reality of what could be. That's where the horror gets you. And for some, perhaps the use of a puppet may be a little unsettling, though an overused trope, it makes the scene a little more malevolent.

Based on Owen Marshall's short story of the same name, New Zealand Judge Mortensen is confined to a wheelchair, though he can stand up and move around a little with the aid of a walking stick. He shares a room with a fellow resident, Tony Garfield (George Henare), who is regularly abused by Crealy, while he is left to watch helplessly. It's not easy to combat evil when one is not fully functioning, has lapses of memory, and is having hallucinations.


An intimately upsetting psychological horror, it's the clever little touches of lighting, the dread of not knowing what's coming next, a claustrophobic mood, the closeups of the camera, the constant presence of a watchful cat that slinks in and out of rooms and corridors, that adds atmosphere and dread to the film. Ultimately it's about bullying and abuse that seems more chilling as it sticks to the realist constraints of what could actually happen in the process of ageing - the sadistic display of dominance over helpless people. It's much like the phrase - 'in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king' - a Desiderius Erasmus quote.

Lithgow takes a good stab at a Kiwi (New Zealand) accent, and his pupils look enhanced - shining brighter with evil in his eyes. Unlike Rush, more physically abled - it gives Lithgow the freedom to act fully menacing, and he takes full advantage, playing his role with twisted relish. Though confined, Rush holds his own and is a good counterbalance for Lithgow, both actors still shining in their twilight years, as this duo make masterful use of their environments to heighten the atmosphere of the scene. What would have made the film a little better for me would have been to shorten the story a little by cutting out some of the repetitive scenes, and keeping it a tight, thoroughly uncomfortable experience.





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