• 177.926 movies
  • 12.203 shows
  • 33.971 seasons
  • 646.938 actors
  • 9.370.364 votes
Avatar
Profile
 
banner banner

The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024)

Horror | 104 minutes
3,22 63 votes

Genre: Horror / Mystery

Duration: 104 minuten

Country: New Zealand

Directed by: James Ashcroft

Stars: John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush and George Henare

IMDb score: 6,1 (9.994)

Releasedate: 19 September 2024

The Rule of Jenny Pen plot

Stefan Mortensen, a misanthropic judge nearing the end of his career, suffers a stroke in the middle of a courtroom that lands him in a nursing home. There he meets Dave Crealy, an old man who terrorizes the other residents and uses his doll, Jenny Pen, as an agent of his tyranny and as an instrument of torture. A confrontation between the two men ensues, escalating into violence and horror that will either lead to victory or death.

Reviews & comments


avatar

Guest

  • messages
  • votes

Let op: In verband met copyright is het op MovieMeter.nl niet toegestaan om de inhoud van externe websites over te nemen, ook niet met bronvermelding. Je mag natuurlijk wel een link naar een externe pagina plaatsen, samen met je eigen beschrijving of eventueel de eerste alinea van de tekst. Je krijgt deze waarschuwing omdat het er op lijkt dat je een lange tekst hebt geplakt in je bericht.

* denotes required fields.

Pay attention! You cannot change your username afterwards.

* denotes required fields.
avatar van Pazmaster

Pazmaster

  • 2776 messages
  • 5872 votes

A surprisingly nice film with a nice story and a great cast. I especially thought Lithgow played very strong, he is perfect for this role. I do find the ending a bit easy, more could have been made of it in my opinion. Nevertheless an entertaining film.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van filmkul

filmkul

  • 2469 messages
  • 2245 votes

Nice psychological old age horror. The story is quite original but not very complicated. The execution is reasonably successful. After a short build-up, Lithgow starts to get into his role nicely. The tension is then slowly built up without the film becoming boring. The playing time is just right. It doesn't get bloody or scary, it is pure psychological horror. The acting is otherwise solid but not memorable. Fine in-between. 3.0/3.5

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van De filosoof

De filosoof

  • 2449 messages
  • 1664 votes

The idea of the film is quite good and I can therefore easily imagine why they chose this short story (by Owen Marshall) for film: a judge is admitted to a nursing home after a stroke, where the patients are terrorized by a fellow patient, which the judge naturally cannot allow, especially since the terrorizing elderly person has specifically targeted the judge because, as it turns out, when we are old, the tables can be turned and those who were successful and powerful (like the judge) become defenseless and weak (where shame can prevent them from calling for help) while the loser can experience a new youth because he can now call the shots and take revenge on his superiors. He also literally plays the senile old man who has become a child again so that the staff will not become suspicious while he plays the bully and even kills people.The film also refers to the current problem of (financial) abuse of the elderly and more generally to the horror of growing old.

I find the execution less strong: I think they intended to make it a true horror film, but the story lacks sufficient elements to qualify it as a horror film in the conventional sense. In any case, the film just doesn't seem to get exciting—despite the ominous music—and there are no unexpected twists. The erudite judge does, however, throw around some interesting lines, such as that without the lions, the hyenas rule, and Lithgow convincingly plays a creepy old man.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original