New Zealand filmmaker James Ashcroft made his feature film debut in 2021 with the bleak road thriller Coming Home in the Dark, which depicted senseless acts of violence at the hands of an extremely disturbed individual. This same confronting theme carries over into the director’s new feature, The Rule of Jenny Pen, a distressing psychological horror taking place within the walls of a rest home.
Geoffery Rush stars in his first screen role in almost six years, as former Judge Stefan Mortensen who’s admitted to an elderly residency after suffering a stroke in court. Confined to a wheelchair, Stefan becomes targeted by the psychopathic, Dave Crealy (John Lithgow) who routinely abuses the rest home’s residents, using a child’s puppet named Jenny Pen as an extension of his cruelty.
The Rule of Jenny Pen would easily be one of the most unpleasant films I’ve seen in a long time mainly due to the helplessness and vulnerability of its victims. It’s the thought of people having to suffer relentless torture during the remaining years of their lives that upsets me the most. However, the film is quietly a scathing commentary on the complacency that has plagued many facilities for elderly citizens, not to mention the horror stories of abuse covered in the media during COVID. Crealy personifies this collective malice and the use of Jenny Pen is perhaps his way of mocking patients with dementia, as they often regress to using children’s toys during their later stages. I commend the film for this approach and the way it’s executed, despite being hard to watch at times.
Stefan is not the kindest gentleman. It’s clear the years of literally sitting in judgment of others have given him a sense of superiority that often spews from his mouth during numerous tirades. Geoffery Rush’s skill as an actor has certainly not diminished over the years.
What motivates Crealy’s terrifying behaviours is not fully explored, but essentially, he’s a bully who can’t help himself; but when Stefan forms an alliance with a partially disabled ex-rugby great, Tony (George Henare) the film does shift gears to become a more satisfying experience as retribution finally begins to take form. Lithgow’s performance is menacing and vile, as an empty human being driven by jealousy and resentment.
The Rule of Jenny Pen opens in select cinemas across Australia from March 20th through Rialto Distribution – Visit FLICKS.com.au to find your nearest venue and session times.
THE RULE OF JENNY PEN
(2024, director: James Ashcroft)
★★★★
production stills provided by Rialto Film Distribution
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