‘The Rule Of Jenny Pen’ Review: A Master Class In Acting As John Lithgow Terrorizes Geoffrey Rush In A Nursing Home Full Of Elder Abuse

Whenever you get veteran stars on the level of John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush in leading roles on screen, attention must be paid.

This teaming, and opportunity for Lithgow (79) and Rush (73) in an industry that doesn’t often offer this kind of chance for its veteran stars. is rare. But in director James Ashcroft‘s creepy nursing home drama The Rule of Jenny Pen they get one and go for it with no brakes applied. It is deliriously delicious to watch, if sometimes difficult to digest.

Actually, it is almost impossible to see this film and not compare it to the swath of horror films offered to veteran golden age stars, well past their prime, in the 1960s with everything from Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte to Lady in a Cage, Dead Ringer, What’s The Matter With Helen? and on and on. But the movie that comes firmly to mind was the one that initiated the trend of seeing aging movie stars terrorized and terrorizing each other: 1962’s Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? with Bette Davis psychologically and physically torturing Joan Crawford and earning her 10th and final Oscar nomination for the effort. Right down to the film’s posters featuring an image of a broken doll you clearly have a template for Jenny Pen, but the genders have been cleverly switched here, and the dark tone veering with campy black comedy has deepened even into Polanski territory.

Ashcroft, who also co-wrote this adaptation of Owen Marshall’s short story, makes his second feature film here following a harrowing 2021 adaptation of another Marshall story, Coming Home in the Dark. Here the focus starts out in a courtroom presided over by a hard-nosed Judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush) who is passing down a sentence when he is suddenly stricken with a stroke. Next thing we know he is in a wheelchair at the Royale Pine Mews rest home, against his will but with no choice. He is quite a miserable f**k to all around him but he is about to meet his match in one of the residents, Dave Crealy (Lithgow), a man who walks around with an appendage of a puppet he names Jenny Pen, and appears at first to be in a stage of dementia, but is as we find out, really the deranged class bully as it were – and worse. He stalks the halls at night terrorizing other helpless residents confined to bed and forcing them to lick Jenny’s private parts among other depraved acts. The declining Judge is horrified by all this and takes him on, but a jaded staff basically just tries to keep order rather than taking Crealy’s behavior seriously.

The film carries on with the tit for tat between these two as it all reaches a crescendo, diving into acts leading to very serious consequences, even death. All of this allows Lithgow and Rush to take this decaying senior rivalry to the heights, even veering into campiness as Lithgow stages a musical performance of a children’s song with Jenny as his partner. The likeable actor, whose villains in past roles are among his most memorable, here gets to play a serial abuser and certifiable bully with no leash, and about as unhinged as you can ever imagine. Rush, a stroke victim but a man still not willing to accept what other residents just stare at and take, is a perfect counterpoint and the rising confrontations between these two are thrilling, if deeply disturbing, to watch. The supporting cast, mostly all New Zealand acting veterans, is superb with Matt Henley’s fine camera work often claustrophobically closing in on their faces, even to the point of making them the objects of absurdity. A standout is George Henare as the Judge’s roommate Tony Garfield, a former footballer now a shell of his former self. Shout out to puppet designer Paul Lewis for the truly frightening Jenny Pen.

Although meant for entertainment, The Rule Of Jenny Pen is a horror film of a different stripe, one that is based on the real life dilemma of growing old in a society that wants to turn away from the their elders, even abusing them. This independently made film from New Zealand is the kind of thing a Hollywood studio wouldn’t go near these days, and it may not be for everyone, but with actors on the level of Lithgow and Rush it is something to behold , if not always easy to watch.

Producers are Catherine Fitzgerald and Orlando Stewart.

Title: The Rule Of Jenny Pen

Distributor: IFC Films/ Shudder

Release Date: March 7, 2025

Director: James Ashcroft

Screenplay: Eli Kent and James Ashcroft

Cast: John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, George Henare, Nathaniel Lees, Thomas Sainsbury, Maalia Pohatu

Rating: R

Running Time: 1 hour and 43 minutes