The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025) review – Acting titans in a bleak care home

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are taking a look at a brand new horror movie out of New Zealand – The Rule of Jenny Pen.

A Fascinating Concept

I was incredibly interested in this movie when my fiancée told me about it. The story follows a group of seniors living in a care home, finding themselves the victim of a malicious resident who torments them using a child’s puppet.

“Horror is a young person’s game… The Rule of Jenny Pen promised something different. An entire location filled with older characters, elderly protagonists and, most intriguing of all, an elderly villain.”

The plot sounded extremely original and legitimately fascinating. James Ashcroft, who brought us the gritty hiking movie Coming Home In The Dark, was attached to direct. Offering the potential for some genuinely dark horror thrills. Throw in the fact that the movie stars John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush and I was completely sold.

The truth of the matter is, that there really aren’t too many horror movies focused on senior citizens. Horror is a young person’s game; what with all the running and screaming and whatnot. Explorations into those of an advanced age tend to only come in the form of dementia allegories and directors finding an excuse to “scare us” by subjecting us to elderly people in the buff.

Aside from terrifying us by pointing out how we will all look when we hit our later years. Most horror movies use older people as a simple victim or a vehicle for a scare. The Rule of Jenny Pen promised something different. An entire location filled with older characters, elderly protagonists and, most intriguing of all, an elderly villain. This is something that you really don’t see that often.

It mostly delivers on its promises

For the most part, Ashcroft delivers on his promise. Based on the short story by author Owen Marshall. The Rule of Jenny Pen takes us to an atypical location that is, somehow, more haunting and frightening than many that you see in horror. Maybe it is because of the staff who have an extremely passive attitude towards their jobs and the concerns of their residents.

Perhaps it is the bleakness of the care home, with its muted colours, regimented schedule, and prison like vernacular. Or, could it actually be the fear that many of us will find ourselves in similar surroundings at some point in our lives. Doomed to be forgotten about by the people that we never thought would push us to one side like an inconvenient burden.

“The walls of this nursing home are beyond oppressive. Making for a perfect setting for a horror movie.”

Who knows? But the walls of this nursing home are beyond oppressive. Making for a perfect setting for a horror movie. The tormenting of resident Dave Crealy (Lithgow) goes completely unnoticed by the staff at the home.

He walks the halls, enters rooms, uses his doll like puppet to instil fear in the residents and then moves on. One such resident, the newest addition to the place, former judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush), plays protagonist. Stefan, who recently suffered a stroke, has a keen sense of justice and no desire to lie down and take the abuse Crealy is dishing out.

His ailing body affords him few chances to fight back however, turning the movie into something of a game of wits. When The Rule of Jenny Pen is Lithgow and Rush verbally jousting, it is at its best.

Some really significant issues

As I mentioned earlier, it’s a great concept but there are numerous flaws that make this film difficult to buy into and entirely enjoy. The sheer fact that our villain can just wander the halls of the care home, at all hours, feels beyond ludicrous.

“The sheer fact that our villain can just wander the halls of the care home, at all hours, feels beyond ludicrous. No staff ever intervene, no cameras are present, and nobody believes the characters.”

No staff ever intervene, no cameras are present to see what is going on, nobody believes the characters when they complain, and nobody seems to actually have any clue what is going on. Even coincidence doesn’t get a look in when it comes to Crealy’s midnight ventures to abuse fellow residents.

It feels like a tremendous leap. Even when compared to supernatural horror. When his violent tendencies extend to daytime romps of chaos in the common rooms, the simple idea of this film being believable goes completely out of the window.

Crealy’s character is like an omnipotent, supercharged, version of a school yard bully. He’s really not all that imposing, either. Even when considered from a vulnerable elderly person’s point of view. There are some enormous leaps of logic taken to make Crealy seem believable and it massively undermines the story.

It’s slow but still quite enjoyable

On top of the problems mentioned above, The Rule of Jenny Pen is an enormously plodding movie. I get it, it is elderly people in a care home bothering each other but the pace of everything is glacial. One night bleeds into the next, leading to a feeling of repetition that I would only expect to experience if I, myself, was a resident in the care home.

Is this masterful movie making to help the viewer relate to the character’s sense of misery? I am not sure but it doesn’t making for entertaining viewing. There is never any sense of escalation, either. Well, not until the latter parts of the movie where Crealy evolves from simple menace into homicidal maniac for no real reason.

There is a distinct sense of desperation in the need to progress the story in a meaningful way. Pushing towards a finale that is both predictable and unsatisfying. The Rule of Jenny Pen is a strange mix of touching and really very boring and I can’t help but feel it is a shame.

There is a lot of potential, here and it is definitely not a bad film. Geoffrey Rush chews the scenery in the best possible way. Lithgow is fantastic and, at least briefly, seems legitimately quite sinister thanks to his seemingly elevated level of physical capability when compared to his care home compatriots.

There are some moments that really make you wince for how viscerally nasty they are and the story can be fairly interesting, at times. The overall portrayal of care home residents being neglected evokes plenty of sympathy and it is easy to relate to the plight of the characters. The Rule of Jenny Pen, however, just doesn’t do enough to stay interesting or believable.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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