Film Review - The Rule of Jenny Pen
Images courtesy of Rialto Distribution.
James Ashcroft’s The Rule of Jenny Pen is a slow-burn psychological horror that trades in gore for something far more insidious - helplessness. Set in the grim, sterile hallways of a New Zealand nursing home, the film asks a quietly terrifying question: what if the scariest thing about growing old isn’t the decline, but the people around you?
Geoffrey Rush stars as Stefan Mortensen, a once-powerful judge now recovering from a stroke in an aged care facility. Rush brings exactly the kind of gravitas you'd expect - grumpy, sharp, and fiercely unwilling to accept his new reality. He’s a great anchor for the story, even as it veers into increasingly unbelievable territory. The film’s real trump card, though, is John Lithgow as Dave Crealy, a long-term resident with a creepy baby doll puppet named Jenny Pen. Needless to say, she’s not just there for show-and-tell. Lithgow walks a tightrope between blithering and deeply unnerving, turning Jenny into an eerie mascot for his manipulative control.
There’s a lot to like and dislike about the presentation here - Ashcroft directs with restraint, letting dread simmer in long, unfaltering shots that aren't afraid to get up close and personal to the film’s infirmed inhabitants. The tone is grim, but not without flashes of pitch-black humour, and this, coupled with the off-putting visual language, result in a film that feels rancid, not unlike the decaying walls of the “home” itself. Elder abuse is something that many of us are painfully aware takes place in these facilities, but Rule aims to distract from the reality of the situation by pitting senior citizens against one another, rather than at the mercy of their caretakers.
That said, The Rule of Jenny Pen isn’t perfect. At times, it feels like it's playing dress-up in the skin of heavier influences (namely hagsploitation films like What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?) and some plot beats stretch believability, particularly given that the setting is portrayed as high-security, but with nary a camera in sight. The horror is more thematic than visceral, and while the film certainly has something to say about the indignities of aging, it doesn't feel entirely cohesive from a thematic or tonal standpoint. For a film so rooted in physical decay and psychological control, the final note the film ends on is just a bit too tidy - more whisper than scream.
Still, as a unique chamber piece about fear, power, and how easily systems can dehumanize the people they’re meant to protect, it lands more hits than misses. It's not a game-changer in the way Ashcroft's previous effort Coming Home in the Dark supposedly is, but it's a well-acted, atmospheric little chiller with enough gummy bite to linger with you afterwards.
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The Rule of Jenny Pen is streaming from April 17th. For more info, click here.