In the official trailer for "The Rule of Jenny Pen," unveiled on Monday, John Lithgow portrays an oppressive tyrant of an elderly care facility, determined to drive Geoffrey Rush's arrogant and partially paralyzed Judge Stefan Mortensen to madness. This psychological thriller, directed by James Ashcroft and set for a March 7 theatrical release, finds Lithgow as Dave Crealy, a retirement home resident who terrorizes his fellow inmates with a cruel game known as “The Rule of Jenny Pen.” The game’s most chilling element? A dementia doll wielded with sadistic relish.
At one chilling moment in the trailer, Crealy, doll in hand, taunts the bedridden Mortensen (played by Rush), who has suffered a near-fatal stroke: “Who rules?” But the teaser hints at an inevitable, deadly confrontation between Mortensen and the bully of the care home, after his pleas for assistance fall on deaf ears and he resolves to put an end to Crealy’s reign of terror.
Co-written by Eli Kent and Ashcroft, "The Rule of Jenny Pen" made its debut at Fantastic Fest and is based on author Owen Marshall’s short story of the same name. After its theatrical run, the film will be available for streaming on Shudder.
In his director's statement, Ashcroft revealed that his horror film essentially transfers the all-too-familiar dynamics of schoolyard bullying to a retirement home, shaping a narrative that is both chilling and unexpected: “As a father of three, I am always vigilant about the prospect of bullying in my children’s lives. However, it had never occurred to me that such a thing could befall my aging parents in the twilight years of their lives.”
Produced by Catherine Fitzgerald and Orlando Stewart, "The Rule of Jenny Pen," a film from New Zealand, boasts executive producer credits shared by Ashcroft, Kent, Lithgow, Rush, Emily Gotto, Nicholas Lazo, and Samuel Zimmerman.
