‘The Rule Of Jenny Pen’ Unsettles At Every Turn

It seems as though we’re in a renaissance of horror set in nursing home facilities. The trend makes sense, given a broad perception in pop culture; they often feel uncanny to non-residents, and for those admitted there’s a real fear of isolation that’s paired with the general anxieties of aging.

Such is the focus of James Ashcroft’s The Rule of Jenny Pen, a psychological horror film from New Zealand about a delirious patient using a baby doll called Jenny Pen to terrorise his fellow men, all while an apathetic system allows it to happen. The film is quite uneven but deeply effective when it puts all its chips into the nursing home horror concept, the villainous machinations of an insane John Lithgow pairing effectively with a neglectful staff whose apathy allows his actions.

The Rule of Jenny Pen primarily follows Stefan Mortensen (Aussie screen icon Geoffrey Rush), a misanthropic judge who has a stroke in the courtroom. When he’s admitted to a nursing home, he soon draws the ire of mysterious fellow patient Dave Crealy (Lithgow) who’s never too far from his doll Jenny Pen. As Dave continues to terrorise Stefan and his roommate Tony (George Henare) without intervention from the staff, it’s up to Stefan to confront Dave in spite of his failing body.

The Rule of Jenny Pen delivers seriously effective horror

The greatest strength of The Rule of Jenny Pen has to be its use of a nursing home as a site of horror. There’s basically no blood or guts to speak of in the film, but it nonetheless feels deeply unsettling for how it uses specific things like wheelchairs or weak knees to terrorise its characters. One particularly upsetting moment came involving a catheter being yanked around by Dave, which sparked a wholly unique feeling of cringe inside me I’d never felt before.

The film is an interesting take on the ‘hagspolitation’ genre too, where the film’s cast of characters is largely composed of old people with an antagonistic relationship to their own bodies that can cause them to look on other elderly people with a level of disgust. This is most prevalent in Stefan, who has been left wheelchair-bound and grows frustrated with his inability to complete tasks he could before.

Geoffrey Rush is excellent as Stefan, who is miserable as the film starts but begins to show great resolve as the film goes on. Stefan’s fears about his body are echoed with the lack of care provided by the nursing home workers, who write off his truthful concerns about Dave as the ramblings of an old man. These moments are often equally effective to the terror inflicted by Dave for their upsetting real world parallels to neglect in aged care homes.

John Lithgow is utterly villainous in Jenny Pen

Speaking of, John Lithgow is sensational as Dave in the film. A veteran screen actor, Lithgow feels so alive in The Rule of Jenny Pen and does some surprisingly impressive work with his puppet scene partner. Jenny always feels threatening thanks to Lithgow and some splendid lighting that makes her hollow eyes always seem to glow. It’s equally fun and unsettling to see Lithgow come off the chain like this.

Though the horror is effective and the leads turn in strong performances, The Rule of Jenny Pen does suffer pretty heavily from a repetitive story structure. Perhaps understandably, much of the film involves Lithgow’s Dave constantly terrorising his fellow patients, but the middle chunk of the film doesn’t really push this conflict in a new direction. It’s only by the third act that Stefan and Tony resolve to seriously challenge Dave in a rather satisfying fashion.

As a result, the film can feel a bit monotonous and long in spite of its interesting ideas. Indeed, the rule of its titular doll begins to feel a bit oppressive while watching, even if I can appreciate why this is – though I do think more time spent on fruitless attempts to bring attention to Dave’s crimes to staff could’ve broken it up a little bit.

The cyclical plot doesn’t prevent me from recommending the film, though. Thanks to terrific performances by two screen icons and some highly effective horror derived from its nursing home location, The Rule of Jenny Pen is a take on psychological horror that actually feels rather fresh compared to many other recent efforts, and is well worth a watch for any horror fans looking for something new.

★★★½

The Rule of Jenny Pen is in cinemas now.