The Rule of Jenny Pen

2025 1h 44m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 185

HorrorThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, a former Judge must stop an elderly psychopath who employs a child's puppet to abuse the home's residents with deadly consequences.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

John Lithgow
Dave Crealy
Geoffrey Rush
Stefan Mortensen
Nathaniel Lees
Sonny Ausage
Maaka Pohatu
Dr. Neels
Tom Sainsbury
Carer Mike
Ian Mune
Howie Wicker
Ginette McDonald
Sally Pile
Holly Shanahan
Madeline Shepard

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James Ashcroft
Writers: Eli Kent, James Ashcroft, Owen Marshall
Languages: English
Countries: New Zealand

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James Ashcroft, shot by Matt Henley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Gibson. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Gretchen Peterson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

CAST

Did you know

John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush and Nathaniel Lees carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt6874690 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James Ashcroft directs. Matt Henley behind the camera. John Gibson scores. Gretchen Peterson cuts. Produced in New Zealand. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released last year.
2Directed by James Ashcroft, shot by Matt Henley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by John Gibson. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Gretchen Peterson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush and Nathaniel Lees carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt6874690 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Classified under 9 themes, including "sadism", "dementia", "psychological thriller", "doll".

The technical file

Cinematography: Matt Henley
Original score: John Gibson
Editing: Gretchen Peterson
Production design: Zahra Archer
Costume design: Gabrielle Stevenson
Makeup / hair: Hayley Ness
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $422,256
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)

Awards

Sitges Film Festival Best Actor award

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

James Ashcroft

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

SteveForsing2025-03-11
★ 8/10
I can't begin to tell you how glad I am that this showed up at the local Regal. I figured I was going to have to wait and rent it. That being said, after you leave the moviehouse and think about what you just watched, you're going to be immediately fucked up. It's been a minute since I watched something that really is equal parts, depressing, vile, sinister and diabolically funny all at the same time. Thankfully, James Ashcroft is able to get two legends together in Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow. The result is an early horror favorite of the year.
SteveForsing2025-03-15
★ 8/10
I can't begin to tell you how glad I am that this showed up at the local Regal. I figured I was going to have to wait and rent it. That being said, after you leave the moviehouse and think about what you just watched, you're going to be immediately messed up. It's been a minute since I watched something that really is equal parts, depressing, vile, sinister and diabolically funny all at the same time. Thankfully, James Ashcroft is able to get two legends together in Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow giving their all. The result is an early horror favorite of the year.
Brent Marchant2025-04-27
★ 3/10
Fewer moviegoing experiences are more frustrating than watching a film in which the creators have no clear vision for what they’re trying to say. Regrettably, such is the case with this second feature offering from writer-director James Ashcroft. When a revered judge (Geoffrey Rush) suffers a stroke, he’s moved to what has to be the most ineptly run convalescent home in New Zealand to undergo rehabilitation. While there, however, he – like many of the facility’s other residents – becomes the target of taunting and abuse by another patient (John Lithgow), a manic dementia case who menaces them with a macabre hand-held puppet he calls Jenny Pen, the one who he contends rules over everyone housed at the home. When the judge protests, though, he’s summarily ignored and called delusional by the utterly clueless staff, an aspect of the narrative that’s wholly implausible and undermines the credibility of whatever the story is supposed to represent. That’s made worse by a meandering story that seems to vacillate between presenting a straightforward tale of elder abuse and floating the possibility that the judge may indeed be suffering from his own internal delusions now that he’s trapped in his own stroke-afflicted body. That kind of purposeful ambiguity might have worked better if it had been employed more skillfully, but, as it stands, that uncertainty is never properly developed. And, as the film plays out, it grows progressively more unbelievable and disjointed, leaving viewers wondering what’s truly supposed to be going on. What’s more, this offering is laughingly billed as a horror flick, but there’s virtually nothing the least bit scary about it; it instead languishes in the realm of a modest (though largely unfocused and unengaging) psychological thriller. To its credit, the film incorporates some searing comic relief in the form of witty, pointed one-liners (mostly delivered by Rush), and the two leads struggle mightily to elevate this cinematic mess into something more respectable. But even their considerable talents – no doubt a casting choice aimed at providing a touch of class to a production unworthy of it – are not enough to salvage this woefully undercooked project. Please, do yourself a favor and don’t waste your time or money on this one.