by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Geoffrey Rush, John Lithgow, George Henare, Nathaniel Lees, Thomas Sainbury, Ian Mune
Intro:
… thematically rich but occasionally lacking in the execution department.
Despite the literal hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of horror movies that explore humanity’s collective fear of death, there are surprisingly few that deal with aging. Films set in old people’s homes, or with major plot points concerning the entropy that we all face, are thin on the ground. Relic (2020), The Manor (2021) and the great Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) are three of the better examples from a very short list, to which we can now add New Zealand flick The Rule of Jenny Pen from director James Ashcroft. The result is thematically rich but occasionally lacking in the execution department.
The Rule of Jenny Pen tells the tale of senior Judge, Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush), who after suffering a stroke during a trial is sent to an aged care facility where he hopes to regain his faculties and get back to work. Partially paralyzed and generally standoffish, Stefan has trouble making friends in the home, despite many attempts by his lovely roommate, and ex footy legend, Tony “Gunner” Garfield (George Henare). He does, however, make enemies very quickly with Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), a dementia patient who walks around with a vacant-eyed baby doll puppet on his arm (name of Jenny Pen, don’tcha know) and dark mischief in his heart. The conflict with Dave starts weird but soon becomes downright deadly.
The Rule of Jenny Pen has a bunch of things going for it. The premise is strong and creepy. The lead performances from Rush and Lithgow are superb, with the latter delivering a genuinely frightening antagonist and a surprisingly robust quasi-Aussie accent to boot. Plus, the location is effective, even though the nurses on staff seem almost comically unaware of the very obvious dangerous shenanigans occurring right in front of them, which sometimes feels intentional and atmospheric and other times like bad writing. The problems lie mainly with the script, as the narrative never really develops much beyond its premise and remains a little repetitive until an ending that is unlikely to satisfy everyone. There was the potential for a genuinely wild, deeply affecting story here and it’s never quite delivered.Still and all, watching two great actors playing off one another in a nursing home grudge match is an undeniable dark pleasure, and there’s enough grimy atmosphere and bleak pathos to keep your invested if you don’t mind your genre flicks being a little heavier on subtext and lowkey chills rather than overt horror.
The Rule of Jenny Pen doesn’t rule, not quite, but it’s an engaging and compelling chiller set in an environment all too often ignored in the genre.
