The Rule of Jenny Pen
Directed by James Ashcroft
Written by Eli Kent, James Ashcroft
Starring Geoffrey Rush, John Lithgow
Release Date March 7th, 2025
Published March 6th, 2025
The Rule of Jenny Pen stars Geoffrey Rush as Stefan Mortenson, a judge who suffers a stroke in the midst of the sentencing for a murder trial. Waking up in a nursing home, Judge Mortenson finds his mind and body assaulted on all sides but is what happening real or only in his mind? Leading the assault is Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), a bully who has lived in this nursing home since childhood. Crealy wears a puppet on his arm named Jenny Pen that he uses as part of his torture.
Throughout the run time of this remarkably unique horror movie, the scares come as much from Lithgow’s unhinged performance as from the ravages of age. If you have a deep seated fear of infirmity and the loss of faculties due to age, The Rule of Jenny Pen will be leaning on that particular nerve throughout the entire film. The nursing home setting is not a new one for a horror movie but co-writer and director James Ashcroft uses the setting remarkably well in crafting scenes of creeping terror.
Find my full length review at Horror.Media, linked here.
