Horror

Thriller

Mystery

The Rule of Jenny Pen

Light in the Dark Productions

Blueskin Films

New Zealand

English

Geoffrey Rush

John Lithgow

George Henare

Nikki MacDonnell

Maaka Pohatu

Fiona Collins

Yvette Parsons

Ian Mune

Richard Chapman

Bruce Phillips

Irene Wood

Annie Ruth

Nick Blake

Nathaniel Lees

Ariadne Baltazar

Hilary Norris

Holly Shanahan

Lutz Halbhubner

Ginette McDonald

Jane Waddell

Catie Noble

Anapela Polataivao

Thomas Sainsbury

Hannah Lynch

Semu Filipo

Paolo Rotondo

Rashmi Pilapitiya

Sylvie Ashcroft

Marbles

Mary Andrews

Rangi Andrews

Doreen Beer

Trevor Beer

Margaret Blake

Adrienne Gordon

Wendy Green

Winston Gurnell

Lynn Harriman

Vivienne Hutchison

Barbara Iles

Peter Judge

Janice Kosterman

Daphne Lecouteur

Christine Lester

Stephen Lester

Isobel McAlpine

Judi McGreevy

Kevin McPake

Jean Mills

Connie Mitchell

Faye Moore

Robin Moore

Adrienne Nairn

Tim Norman

Karl Periera

Lorraine Philbey

Steve Punter

Sarah Simmonds

Audrey Swann

Deborah Taylor

John Wakelin

Pearl Wakelin

Michael Ward

Wayne Wilson

Vee Hodgson

Melissa Isaacson

Lormar Karauti

Huirangi Law

Anna Lopez

Charlotte Mann

Dervla Murtagh

Jessica Ruck-Nu'u

Lindsey Seaton

Lian Song

Bayley Rakei

David Lewai

Jed Walker

Kane Mason

Oscar McDougall

Riley Williams

Romeo McIlvride

Sasha Parize-Baker

Tomãs Green Gamargo

Tawhiri Wanoa

Zach Harrison

Celia Griffiths

Hijiri Yamamoto

Jack Moyer

Taliesin Amoore

Harper Ashcroft

India Ashcroft

Nina Williams

Stella Williams

Mandy Thomas

Kurt Johnson

Lovely Gomonit

Jacqueline Later

Ryshon Te Fono

Orlando Stewart

Natasha Kenyon

James Ashcroft

Eli Kent

Owen Marshall

Emily Gotto

Nicholas Lazo

Catherine Fitzgerald

Matt Henley

Gretchen Peterson

John Gibson

Paul Lewis

I can't begin to tell you how glad I am that this showed up at the local Regal.  I figured I was going to have to wait and rent it.  That being said, after you leave the moviehouse and think about what you just watched, you're going to be immediately fucked up.  It's been a minute since I watched something that really is equal parts, depressing, vile, sinister and diabolically funny all at the same time.  Thankfully, James Ashcroft is able to get two legends together in Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow.  The result is an early horror favorite of the year.

I can't begin to tell you how glad I am that this showed up at the local Regal. I figured I was going to have to wait and rent it. That being said, after you leave the moviehouse and think about what you just watched, you're going to be immediately messed up. It's been a minute since I watched something that really is equal parts, depressing, vile, sinister and diabolically funny all at the same time. Thankfully, James Ashcroft is able to get two legends together in Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow giving their all. The result is an early horror favorite of the year.

Brent Marchant

Fewer moviegoing experiences are more frustrating than watching a film in which the creators have no clear vision for what they’re trying to say. Regrettably, such is the case with this second feature offering from writer-director James Ashcroft. When a revered judge (Geoffrey Rush) suffers a stroke, he’s moved to what has to be the most ineptly run convalescent home in New Zealand to undergo rehabilitation. While there, however, he – like many of the facility’s other residents – becomes the target of taunting and abuse by another patient (John Lithgow), a manic dementia case who menaces them with a macabre hand-held puppet he calls Jenny Pen, the one who he contends rules over everyone housed at the home. When the judge protests, though, he’s summarily ignored and called delusional by the utterly clueless staff, an aspect of the narrative that’s wholly implausible and undermines the credibility of whatever the story is supposed to represent. That’s made worse by a meandering story that seems to vacillate between presenting a straightforward tale of elder abuse and floating the possibility that the judge may indeed be suffering from his own internal delusions now that he’s trapped in his own stroke-afflicted body. That kind of purposeful ambiguity might have worked better if it had been employed more skillfully, but, as it stands, that uncertainty is never properly developed. And, as the film plays out, it grows progressively more unbelievable and disjointed, leaving viewers wondering what’s truly supposed to be going on. What’s more, this offering is laughingly billed as a horror flick, but there’s virtually nothing the least bit scary about it; it instead languishes in the realm of a modest (though largely unfocused and unengaging) psychological thriller. To its credit, the film incorporates some searing comic relief in the form of witty, pointed one-liners (mostly delivered by Rush), and the two leads struggle mightily to elevate this cinematic mess into something more respectable. But even their considerable talents – no doubt a casting choice aimed at providing a touch of class to a production unworthy of it – are not enough to salvage this woefully undercooked project. Please, do yourself a favor and don’t waste your time or money on this one.

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The Rule of Jenny Pen

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Cast

Geoffrey Rush

John Lithgow

George Henare

Nikki MacDonnell

Maaka Pohatu

Fiona Collins

Yvette Parsons

Ian Mune

Richard Chapman

Bruce Phillips

Box office

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