‘The Rule of Jenny Pen’ Review – Elder Care Horror Tale Will Make Your Skin Crawl

James Ashcroft’s tyrannical elder care horror tale carries a psychological sting. The New Zealand filmmaker adapts Kiwi writer Owen Marshall a second time after his debut Coming Home in the Dark, “Jenny Pen” a more unlikely nightmare. Performance titans Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow confront themes of bullying, manipulation, and power struggles that echo relevance outside old folks’ homes—but the setting remains unique. Ashcroft and co-writer Eli Kent script unsettling helplessness within a facility where residents should feel cared for, instigating delicious chaos using a plastic-headed baby doll known as the menace Jenny Pen.

Rush stars as the honorable Judge Stefan Mortensen, who finds himself at Royal Pine Mews Care Home after suffering a debilitating stroke. His roommate is legendary rugby gunner Tony Garfield (George Henare), but Mortensen isn’t keen to make friends. He’s convinced he’ll rehabilitate, then move back to the big city—lofty ambitions from someone reliant on a wheelchair and lacking half his body’s essential motor functions. To make matters worse, Mortensen learns the population has an antagonist: Lithgow’s Dave Crealy. The faking dementia patient makes rounds each night and torments residents, making them worship his rubbish hand puppet. Either you accept Jenny Pen as your god or endure Crealy’s wrath—which Mortensen invokes.