THE RULE OF JENNY PEN
Feature Film (103”)
A misanthropic Judge confined to an aged care home finds himself set in a deadly conflict with its resident tyrant.
Self-important Judge Stefan Mortensen suffers a near-fatal stroke at work, that leaves him partially paralysed and ignominiously placed into care in a retirement home, his personal idea of hell on earth. As he recuperates, he refuses to cooperate with the busy but disengaged staff or integrate with his affable roommate Tony Garfield, a former sports hero.
He soon discovers his nemesis in the seemingly gentle Dave Crealy, who has long held other residents in an after dark reign of terror with a sadistic game of wills called ‘The Rule of Jenny Pen’ executed with the aid of his dementia doll. When the ageing psychopath turns his attention to Mortensen and Garfield, the two residents find an unlikely and hard won bond. Mortensen’s antagonism feeds Crealy’s taste for petty power play. When Eunice is found drowned in the neighbouring wastelands, Mortensen deduces Crealy was somehow responsible and decides he must end the tyranny. As the violence escalates, Mortensen’s pleas to staff are ignored, so Mortensen and Garfield take matters into their own hands to end the rule of Jenny Pen.
Premiere: Fantastic Fest (2024)
Credits
Directed by: James Ashcroft / Produced by: Catherine Fitzgerald & Orlando Stewart / Screenplay by: James Ashcroft & Eli Kent
Director of Photography: Matt Henley / Editor: Gretchen Peterson
Starring: Geoffrey Rush, John Lithgow, George Henare
Blueskin Films & Light in the Dark Productions, in Association with the New Zealand Film Commission Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga
Festivals & Awards
2024:
Fantastic Fest - In Competition, Opening Night Film, Best Director (Winner), Best Actor, Geoffrey Rush (Winner)
Sitges International Film Festival - Geoffrey Rush & John Lithgow (Winner), Best Motion Picture (Nominee)
Chicago International Film Festival – After Dark
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival
PÖFF Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
Molins Horror Film Festival – Closing Night Film
Torino Film Festival
Fancine Fantastic Film Festival of Malaga
Imagine Fantastic Film Festival
Paris International Fantastic Film Festival
Philadelphia Film Festival
Monster Fest - Golden Monster, Best Feature Film (Winner)
2025:
Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival
Fantasy Film Fest White Nights
Slash 1/2 Spring Edition
Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival
Taipei Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival
Bali IFF Berlinale
KlikFilm Jakarta World Cinema (Falcon)
Night Visions International Film Festival
Fantasmagoria - Festival de Cine Fantástico y de Terror de Medellín
Māoriland Film Festival
Taormina Film Festival - Best Actor, Geoffrey Rush (Winner) Youth Jury Award, Best Film (Winner)
Sales & Distribution
Australia & New Zealand: Rialto Distribution
International Sales: Charades
100 Best Movies of the 21st Century
– Stephen King, The New York Times
Stephen King Said This Underseen 2025 Horror Film Is One of the Best Films of the 21st Century, and It’s on Shudder Now
- Gaby Shedwick, Collider
The Rule of Jenny Pen review – John Lithgow pulls the strings in care home horror (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian