FANTASTIC FEST 2024: "THE RULE OF JENNY PEN" (2024) Is A Masterclass In Performance And Suspense (REVIEW)
As the sun shines down on the city of Austin, TX with it so do the lights of the Alamo Drafthouse in South Lamar for the 19th annual Fantastic Fest! For eight days, some of the best genre films worldwide will showcase the current and future talents in genre filmmaking while celebrating some classics in new, revitalized restorations. This year, Macabre Daily is fortunate enough to have some boots (well, one person) on the ground basking in the glory of all the genre has to offer. As part of our coverage, we will post reviews, interviews, and previews of upcoming films and games taking center stage here, including some exciting new horror games from the indie studios showcased in Fantastic Games presented by Day of the Devs! We are honored and privileged to be here, thank you to our partners at Fons PR, and now let’s get to the good stuff with the worldwide premiere and festival opener, “The Rule Of Jenny Pen” which was recently picked up by Shudder (see our previous coverage) with a release date that is TBD
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, a former Judge must stop an elderly psychopath who employs a child's puppet to abuse the home's residents with deadly consequences.
HOW IS IT?
How far can you push someone before they break? It’s a theme we’ve seen revisited in the horror genre before, albeit in different ways. “Funny Games” and more recently “Speak No Evil” (the 2022 version) are two examples of how the limits of the social contract are pushed to the breaking point where one side is unequivocally exploiting the other through fear and courtesy. There is something inherently captivating about this premise because it harkens to so much of what we experience in our daily lives, such as rude and entitled customers berating store associates or the wave of elder abuse that has happened in long-term care facilities and the like. In James Ashcroft’s “The Rule of Jenny Pen” we see the limits to which John Lithgow (Dave Crealy) will go to break the strongwilled spirit of Geoffrey Rush’s Judge Stefan Mortenson who recently had a major stroke. It is a ballet of darkly comic and deeply tense psychological terror as we see the full breadth of terror Jenny Pen exacts upon the facility and its residents.
Judge Stefan Mortenson is a hardliner judge who seems to take pride in his execution of firm justice, so much so it causes him to have a major stroke and end up in a long-term care facility. Mortenson is characterized as adversely independent and in denial that his condition is as bad as they say it is. In his mind, he’ll be out in a jiff, despite being unable to move half his body. Rush plays the perfect curmudgeon who sucks the air out of every room he’s in and spits back any attempts at connection or kindness. He is begrudgingly here, and he wants everyone to know it, which makes him a hard character to care for and a testament to the performance of how effectively unlikable yet sympathetic he is. When we are introduced to Dave Crealy, it is as a wild-eyed dementia patient who speaks through and to a doll named aptly, “Jenny Pen”. Crealy isn’t as inept as he may seem, however, as he and Jenny pen peruse the halls in the evening hours tormenting other residents in incredibly humiliating ways. It is uncomfortable to see the exploitation of these elderly folks at the hands of Crealy, and thus Jenny Pen, which is what makes this kind of psychological horror so compelling. There are some shocking moments of darkly comic and sad violence, but “The Rule of Jenny Pen” never errs into being cruel for cruelty's sake.
Ashcroft plays with the tone wonderfully in “The Rule of Jenny Pen”, and in doing so makes the peril of the residents that much more potent. Lithgow gives a masterclass in diabolical scenery chewing without ever overdoing it or going out of character. The more we learn about Crealy, the more we understand without any exposition how he became who he is today. Rush’s counterbalance to Lithgow’s Crealy is what helps the tension so much. Mortenson isn’t just stubborn, he’s prideful as well. He can’t accept that he went from being a judge who can mandate life-changing sentences to then being tormented by a man who speaks through a doll’s head. It also grapples with the helplessness that we as people feel as we age, and how society treats the elderly as something to be tucked away and forgotten about. Ashcroft doesn’t offer up this commentary directly, as it reflects something that checks out how we treat aging here in the West. And to that end, that isolation makes the vulnerability that much greater which is made manifest with Crealy and his form of tyrannical monarchy. It does run a bit longer than it needs to and has a semi-uneven landing at the end, but these are frankly minor gripes into what is otherwise a gripping, tense exploration of geriatric horror.
LAST RITES
“The Rule of Jenny Pen” is a psychological horror with a long-term care twist that excels through invigorating performances from the two leads and a smart script that balances humor, horror, and social critique perfectly. A delightful way to open Fantastic Fest 2024!
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
Written By
Starring
Where can you watch it?
The Rule of Jenny Pen had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest this year and does not have a firm release date. It will come to Shudder in 2025.
Stay up to date with “The Dark Side Of Pop Culture” by following Macabre Daily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
