"The Rule of Jenny Pen" Review

Director: James Ashcroft Screenwriter: Eli Kent, James Ashcroft Cast: John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, George Henare Distributor: Galaxy Pictures Running Time: 104 min. MPAA: R

Horror involving the elderly can be either tragically funny or tragically, well, tragic. Part of you wants to laugh at how far you’ve come and kick your old tank to see if there’s any gas left inside. The Rule of Jenny Pen depicts this creeping fear of your life being a waste and being reduced to something less when confined to a resting home. There’s an almost uncomfortable parallel in how the film uses the acclaimed actors of John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush, who are placed in a movie where they are naked, dying, stewing in their juices, and being terrorized by puppets. The good news is that the film leans more earnestly into the insanity rather than evoke the laughs so easily they should be sidelined.

Geoffrey Rush plays Stefan, a judge who fears a loss of movement and mind. After a stroke leaves him disabled, he’s transferred to a home care unit, hoping his stay will be brief. The fear of running out your days in a facility is terrifying enough, but it is made all the more horrific with the presence of resident Dave, a maniacal force played by John Lithgow. Dave is already unhinged, with his hand being reserved for a dollhead puppet. Although Stefan finds kinship with his roommate Tony (George Henare), Dave is too much of a bully to ignore. His antics range from annoying laughter to throwing piss on residents. The puppet, named Jenny Pen, is used as weapon for being so bizarre, where Dave forces the terrified patients into kissing Jenny’s asshole (aka his wrist). As Dave’s bullying becomes more aggressive and vile, it becomes clear that no elder will know peace until Dave and Jenny are out of the picture.

There’s never a clear grounding for what this film is trying to be, fluctuating between a surreal and social psychological horror. We get glimpses of Stefan losing his mind and having nightmares of a giant Jenny Pen, but not much more than the shock of surface-level strangeness. We get a sense of how easy it is to bully in a care home, but somehow never fully traverse the depths of that hell. The smart call for a picture like this is relying on Rush and Lithgow to deliver stern performances with their prestige power. Rush works well enough as a blustering man tossed into an uncomfortable situation. Lithgow goes the extra mile for appearing crazy, but never topples over the edge, presenting a somewhat believable bully who could get away with torturing his fellow old folks. The way they clash on a level more blunt than cunning makes for some compelling scenes where the two have to get more physical. There’s a scene where Dave starts singing and dancing loudly in front of Stefan with great spirit, highlighting how effortlessly Lithgow can cater to the absurd and the evil. Punctuated by his coughs as he struggles to breathe, Lithgow plays a compelling psychopath with vulnerability and unpredictability.

The Rule of Jenny Pen doesn’t have a deeper layer amid its puppet-infused horror, but it does find enough creepy stuff to do with the concept. It stirs the pot well enough with some strong casting ingredients for a film that seems to mash the scares of failing home care and losing your mind. Sometimes, it’s fun to get lost in a film as much as the protagonists stumble through the frightening realm of lost memories and haunting pasts. Jenny Penn embraces the semi-survivalist thrill of killing the weird bully who makes racist jokes and abuses people, existing in a world where the symbolism of a giant puppet in a courtroom is more interesting for the visual and than the visceral.