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The Rule of Jenny Pen

Play trailer 2:40 Poster for The Rule of Jenny Pen R,  2025,  1h 43m,  Horror/ Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
The Rule of Jenny Pen: Trailer 1 The Rule of Jenny Pen: Trailer 1 Now Playing The Rule of Jenny Pen: Teaser Trailer The Rule of Jenny Pen: Teaser Trailer Now Playing View more videos
Watchlist 72% 110 Reviews Tomatometer - - Popcornmeter
72% Tomatometer 110 Reviews Popcornmeter
Arrogant Judge Stefan Mortensen suffers a near-fatal stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed and confined to a retirement home. Resistant to the staff and distant from his friendly roommate, Mortensen soon clashes with seemingly gentle resident Dave Crealy who secretly terrorizes the home with a sadistic game called "The Rule of Jenny Pen" while wielding his dementia doll as an instrument of cruelty. What begins as childish torment quickly escalates into far more sinister and disturbing incidents. When Mortensen's pleas to the staff go unanswered, he takes it upon himself to put an end to Crealy's reign of terror.
The Rule of Jenny Pen

What to Know

Critics Consensus

John Lithgow's frighteningly unhinged performance reigns over The Rule of Jenny Pen, a nasty chiller that's by turns monotonous and haunting.

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Critics Reviews

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Leigh Singer Sight & Sound Nov 5, 2025
Rush and Lithgow are clearly committed, one splenetic with frustration and fear, the other thrumming with beady-eyed malevolence. But their duel is largely one-note, shorn of psychological nuance or clashing worldviews. Go to Full Review
Tim Cogshell FilmWeek (LAist) May 9, 2025
A mess. From one scene to the next, you think "This doesn't make any sense." Go to Full Review
Claudia Puig FilmWeek (LAist) May 9, 2025
Slow and creeps along. Setting a movie in a senior home with mostly infirm and incapacitated people can be dicey, and it takes a special kind of film to make that anything other than bleak. Go to Full Review
Grant Hermanns Screen Rant Feb 12, 2026
8/10
With the film oscillating between a darkly humorous take on aging to a genuinely unsettling psychological thriller, it's important to have actors who navigate that tightrope well, and Ashcroft couldn't have chosen better than when casting John Lithgow. Go to Full Review
Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com Nov 16, 2025
2.5/4.0
A sublime example of two top-notch actors elevating their material. Go to Full Review
Caitlin Kennedy Simply Cinema (Substack) Sep 24, 2025
6/10
The Rule of Jenny Pen takes the inherent creepiness of nursing homes to its most horrifying conclusion, squeezing every drop of helplessness out of the narrative. Go to Full Review
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Cast & Crew

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James Ashcroft

Director

John Lithgow

Dave Crealy

Geoffrey Rush

Judge Stefan Mortensen

Nathaniel Lees

Sonny Ausage

George Henare

Tony Garfield

Thomas Sainsbury

Carer Mike

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The Rule of Jenny Pen

The Rule of Jenny Pen: Trailer 1 The Rule of Jenny Pen: Trailer 1 2:40 Now Playing The Rule of Jenny Pen: Teaser Trailer The Rule of Jenny Pen: Teaser Trailer 1:23 Now Playing View more videos
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The Rule of Jenny Pen

The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024) The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024) The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024) The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Arrogant Judge Stefan Mortensen suffers a near-fatal stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed and confined to a retirement home. Resistant to the staff and distant from his friendly roommate, Mortensen soon clashes with seemingly gentle resident Dave Crealy who secretly terrorizes the home with a sadistic game called "The Rule of Jenny Pen" while wielding his dementia doll as an instrument of cruelty. What begins as childish torment quickly escalates into far more sinister and disturbing incidents. When Mortensen's pleas to the staff go unanswered, he takes it upon himself to put an end to Crealy's reign of terror.
Director
James Ashcroft
Producer
Catherine Fitzgerald, Orlando Stewart
Screenwriter
James Ashcroft, Eli Kent
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
Light in the Dark Productions, Blueskin Films
Rating
R (Some Language|Sexual Assault|Violent Content)
Genre
Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 7, 2025, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 28, 2025
Box Office (Gross USA)
$255.0K
Runtime
1h 43m
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