By Bob Grimm
Oh, lordy, The Rule of Jenny Pen is a nasty one—a dark, dreary, filthy, get-to-the-core-of-real-life terror nasty one. This is a movie that declares, unapologetically, that getting old and helpless sucks major ass.
This is not a typical horror-genre movie. There are no supernatural beasts, no slashers, and no ghosts—just an old man in a nursing home with a doll on his hand doing ungodly things to his neighbors.
John Lithgow plays that man, Dave, a mysterious resident at a rest home with a new arrival, Stefan (Geoffrey Rush), a judge who suffered a stroke during a trial. He is now wheelchair bound and at the mercy of Dave and his creepy puppet, Jenny Pen. Dave sneaks around at night and terrorizes the place, and his evil behavior results in escalating tragedy.
There are plenty of you who might be thinking, “OK, this is not the movie for me,” and that is perfectly understandable. This is about as unpleasant as a movie can get. I, for one, will probably never watch it again.
That said, I do admire its commitment to its nasty theme, the creepy direction of James Ashcroft and, most notably, the work of Lithgow and Rush. These are daring, unsafe performances being unleashed by a pair of fine actors who don’t take a single misstep. No, this film won’t get a lot of awards buzz, but I will submit that Lithgow and Rush are at the top of their game in this movie.
While I’m giving The Rule of Jenny Pen a positive rating, it’s a little hard to stand up and call it a must-see. If you like your horror brutal and realistic, and you appreciate fine acting, then give Jenny Pen a visit—and rest assured that it will be your last visit, because even though it’s a good movie, you won’t want to see it again.
The Rule of Jenny Pen is available online via various streaming services.
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