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The Oscar winner answers your questions about playing everyone from Peter Sellers to the Marquis de Sade, his home town of Toowoomba and new care-home horror The Rule of Jenny Pen

The Rule of Jenny Pen looks terrifying! Does the prospect of sudden ageing frighten you? BenderRodriguez

It’s not sudden. I was in [King] Lear when I was 64 and said: “I need a wig that’s grey because he’s supposed to be 80.” Now I’m 73 and I still think inside I’m a brunette. This is the 54th year of my career. The last decade has just galloped past. I waited for something like this – a project that I latched on to. There’s been a lot of stuff that I turned down. I’m now being very pernickety about what I commit three or four months of my life to.

No doubt there was also a lot of work behind it,...

Academy Award Nominee John Lithgow Academy Award Winner Geoffrey Rush The Rule Of Jenny Pen Out Now In UK And Ireland Cinemas ★★★★ ‘Dread soaked tension‘ The Hollywood News ‘Profoundly perverse’ IndieWire ‘One of the best movies I’ve seen this year‘ Stephen King Starring Academy Award nominee John Lithgow, Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush and [...]

The post The Rule Of Jenny Pen (John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush) out now in cinemas first appeared on Horror Screams Video Vault - Supporting Independent Horror.

Exclusive: Emmy winners John Lithgow and Jimmy Smits are set to reprise their roles of Arthur Mitchell aka the Trinity Killer and Miguel Prado, respectively, in the Showtime original series Dexter: Resurrection. The show has been in production in New York since January.

For playing the diabolical Trinity Killer, Lithgow received an Emmy Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and a SAG Award as well as a Golden Globe nomination. Smits received an Emmy nomination for his Season 3 portrayal of Miguel, the Ada-turned-lawbreaker hellbent on revenge.

At this point, fans of the ‘Dexter’-verse aren’t surprised when news emerges that dead people are being resurrected. Especially when Lithgow is concerned, as he appeared in flashback scenes in the limited series Dexter: New Blood. The New Blood continuation series is titled Resurrection, so at this point, anything goes. This is Smits’ return to the franchise,...

On Friday nights (and special occasions!), IndieWire After Dark takes a beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

In March 2025, we’re highlighting favorites from puppeteer Paul Lewis — with Two Midnight Movies (and a Muppet!) That Influenced “The Rule of Jenny Pen.”

First, read the Bait: a weird and wonderful pick from any time in film. Then, try the Bite: a behind-the-scenes breakdown of the project’s ending, impact, and any other spoilers you’d want.

“The Rule of Jenny Pen” is in theaters and streams on AMC + and Shudder March 28.

The Bait: “That’s a Thousand Hours of My Life You Just Saw”

If TV writing isn’t a job anymore, then TV magicians must be totally screwed, huh? In the 1978 psychological horror classic “Magic,” Anthony Hopkins — aka everyone’s favorite cannibal psychiatrist — trades in his red-headed FBI agent from “Silence of the...

Like it or not, 2025 is rapidly becoming the Year of the Freak Accident.

In horror, everybody from audiences who loved “The Monkey” to that very flammable fellow in “The Rule of Jenny Pen” is feeling it. But there’s even more to come when “Final Destination” — the genre’s most criminally underrated supernatural franchise — returns with scads more not-so-accidental deaths on May 16.

The aughts used to get a bad rap in pop culture, but that’s improved somewhat in recent years. As filmmakers have released their death-grip obsession on the ’80s, familiar faces and franchises from throughout the 2000s have reemerged across all types of movies and TV. Right now, for example, you can see the forty-something “Veronica Mars” dating that forty-something guy from “The O.C.” in a rom-com on Netflix that’s been wildly popular — in spite of the title “Nobody Wants This.”

When it comes to nostalgia for aughts-era nightmares,...

Welcome to IndieWire After Dark, where we pick a new theme for our midnight movie programming every month!

Join us on Friday nights (and special occasions!) to explore some of the strangest fringe films available at any hour in the Streaming Age.

The scariest puppet this side of the “Saw” franchise, Jenny Pen is an early frontrunner in the race for 2025’s favorite new horror icon. She’s the reason for the season and the inspiration behind this month’s IndieWire After Dark lineup — Two Midnight Movies (and a Muppet!) That Influenced “The Rule of Jenny Pen.”

A labor of love from filmmaker James Ashcroft, puppeteer Paul Lewis, and star actor John Lithgow, the titular prop drew on a slew of sources. The movie is based on a story by Owen Marshall, which was optioned by Ashcroft and his co-writer Eli Kent more than a decade ago, and it’s...

Dig deeper into Jenny Pen’s heritage with IndieWire After Dark! In March 2025, our weekly midnight movie club is revisiting three of the fringe film influences that inspired “The Rule of Jenny Pen.”

Where do babies come from? Under “The Rule of Jenny Pen,” the answer isn’t as simple as having unprotected sex or getting a visit from the stork. No, the brainchild of director James Ashcroft and puppeteer Paul Lewis has an especially complicated birth story and answers to more artistic parents than most.

Part David Lynch, part Muppet, the titular Jenny Pen debuted in theaters on March 7. She’s a Pisces who is laying early claim to the title of 2025’s favorite new horror icon, thanks to the midwives over at IFC Films and Shudder. (“The Rule of Jenny Pen” will stream exclusively on the horror platform and AMC+ starting on March 28.)

The centerpiece to a toxic...

Stars: John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, George Henare | Written by James Ashcroft, Eli Kent | Directed by James Ashcroft

Directed by James Ashcroft, chilling care home horror The Rule of Jenny Pen is adapted from a story by New Zealand author Owen Marshall. Co-written by Ashcroft and Eli Kent, it’s a terrifying tale of bullying and elder abuse that’s all the more frightening for its plausibility.

Geoffrey Rush stars as Stefan Mortensen, an elderly, cantankerous judge who has a devastating stroke while passing a verdict and ends up half-paralysed and confined to a care home. Already infuriated by having to share a room with former rugby star Tony Garfield (George Henare), Stefan’s problems only get worse when they are both terrorised by long-term patient Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), who is never seen without a baby-faced, hollow-eyed therapy puppet on his hand, named Jenny Pen.

Unfortunately, no one in the...

Universal Pictures’ spy thriller Black Bag leads the way for new releases in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as Warner Bros’ Opus and Studiocanal’s In the Lost Lands also open.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh,Black Bagopens in 650 cinemas, up from Soderbergh’s last film Presence which debuted in 478 sites earlier this year. That title opened with a mild £292,058 for Warner Bros, ending its run on £825,587 total.

Black Bag will be aiming much higher with the help of strong reviews, a London-set premise and a starry ensemble led by Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. The duo play husband and...

Warner Bros.’ “Mickey 17” claimed the top spot at the U.K. and Ireland box office in its opening weekend, earning £2.1 million ($2.7 million), according to Comscore.

The sci-fi thriller from director Bong Joon Ho, starring Robert Pattinson, made a solid debut, though it faced strong competition from holdover hit “Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.”

Universal’s “Bridget Jones” sequel continued its remarkable run, landing in second place with $2.6 million in its fourth weekend. The film has now amassed $52.2 million, making it one of the biggest releases of the year so far.

True Brit Entertainment’s “Marching Powder” opened in third with $1.3 million. The film marks the long-anticipated reunion of director Nick Love and lead Danny Dyer after 2007’s “Outlaw.” The filmmakers indicate that the film – a comedy-drama about addiction, violence and happy endings told through individuals with real lived experience – is on track to gross the equivalent of is...

As populations’ median ages continue to rise — and the future looks increasingly hazardous for all age groups — more movies are touching on senility, dementia, elder abuse and other topics that not long ago rarely got any screen airing. That includes the horror genre, which has typically been focused on terrorizing nubile youth. Joining such recent efforts as “The Taking of Deborah Logan,” “The Manor” and “The Rule of Jenny Pen” is “The Home,” a Swedish-language chiller in which a stroke victim moves into a care facility — but not alone, as unfortunately the few moments she spent clinically “dead” enabled a malevolent spirit to return with her from “the other side.”

This SXSW Midnighter premiere is likely to attract remake offers, though the heightened jump scares and violence they’ll likely pile on would only dilute what makes Mattias J. Skoglund’s sophomore feature so effective. Its eerily quiet approach to...

Sean Baker’s Anora from Neon — which swept the Academy Awards for Best Director, Picture, Original Screenplay, Lead Actress and Editing – added 800+ screens to celebrate after the ceremony last Sunday and brought in in an estimated $1.86 million for the three-day weekend. The cume after 21 weeks in theaters now stands at $18.45 million.

Anora stands at no. 7 this week, making for an impressive five indies in the top 10 this week

Neon’s The Monkey takes the fourth spot in week 3 with a cume of $31 million. And two other indies round out the top ten with Rule Breakers from Angel Studios seeing $1.59 million on 2,044 screens, at no. 9, and In The Lost Lands from Vertical, based on an a short story by George R.R. Martin, is estimating $1.04 million at 1,370 locations and a no. 10 spot.

The distributor has been on a push to boost its theatrical slate over the past year and has places in...

No matter the time of year, Shudder always has an extensive supply of horror films to satisfy its subscribers. Spring might be quickly approaching, but spooky season never ends with this streaming service. This month, the platform is guaranteed to have even more gruesome and terrifying films for everyone to enjoy.

From comedic slasher flicks to vampires and the supernatural, Shudder will have just about every subgenre viewers could possibly want. Whether horror fans want blood and gore or psychological thrillers, the platform has them covered. No matter what audiences want to see this month, Shudder will certainly have something for them.

'30 Days of Night' Stream Now on Shudder

Based on the comic book miniseries of the same name, 30 Days of Night unfolds in the small town of Barrow, Alaska, during their yearly polar night, in which the sun doesn’t rise for 30 days. After strange occurrences begin...

It's only a few months into the year, yet the New Zealand-made psychological horror film The Rule of Jenny Penis already poised to be the most effectively disturbing film of 2025. Starring two famous and well-established big names on stage and screen — Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow — and directed by actor James Ashcroft, The Rule of Jenny Pen follows the imperious, proud yet high-minded Judge Stefan Mortensen, who is rushed into a nursing home following a stroke that leaves his legs paralyzed and his mental faculties compromised. Surrounded by ailing figures and an ineffectual staff, Judge Mortensen finds himself up against the real boss of the home — fellow patient Dave Crealy (John Lithgow). Armed with a memory puppet dubbed "Jenny Pen," Crealy rules the roost by exploiting and abusing fellow patients, taking advantage of the elderly, frail and mentally incompetent, all seemingly unnoticed by the staff. Old habits die hard for the Judge,...

There aren’t many actors who can ricochet quite like John Lithgow. He’s a gifted comedian, warm and familial, in films like “Harry and the Hendersons,” and a steely supervillain matching Sylvester Stallone blow for blow in “Cliffhanger.” He’s a Machiavellian schemer, completely unknowable, in a film like “Conclave,” and he also madcaps his way through a wacky high-concept sitcom in “3rd Rock from the Sun.”

If there’s a unifying factor in most of Lithgow’s performances it’s his almost uncomfortable intensity. When he’s the victim, he’s the saddest victim. When he’s the bad guy, he’s the meanest bad guy. When he’s given carte blanche to go mad with power, he’s Dave Crealy in “The Rule of Jenny Penn,” which may very well be his creepiest performance since Brian De Palma’s “Raising Cain” — and that’s saying something.

“The...

It’s always exciting to see major actors try their hand at horror. Both John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush have never shied away from it, and always find interesting roles when they do take part. That’s no different here as The Rule of Jenny Pen provides the two thespians an absolute smorgasbord to play with. They get to play nemesis and are really able to milk each of their interactions. There’s a tension present whenever these two are in the same room and it’s because they know how to play off the small moments so well. I didn’t love the film itself (check out my review Here) but I was floored by the performances from these two talented actors.

Talking to two absolute acting titans like John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush can be a bit intimidating. Thankfully, they’re two of the nicest people out there and truly love acting,...

The 2020s are a new golden age for horror. The once-derided genre is gaining long-deserved respect and even the red carpet treatment. In 2024, A-list stars took prominent roles in some of the year’s best and scariest flicks. Heretic featured Hugh Grant as the cheerful cult leader-slash-college professor-slash-titular heretic terrorizing Mormon missionaries. Brat Pack alum Demi Moore tackled the Hollywood machine in the gut-wrenching body horror The Substance. This time, it’s John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush, two long-established, serious actors, who have charged into the horror renaissance, this time tackling an especially scary subject — senility and senior abuse.

Directed by James Ashcroft, a New Zealand actor with an impressive directing roster, The Rule of Jenny Pen is already poised to be the most disturbing horror thriller of the year. Based on the short story of the same name by Owen Marshall, the story follows the imperious and arrogant yet...

Based on Owen Marshall’s short story, “The Rule of Jenny Pen” (2025) blends the evocative drama of its setting, which is life at an elder-care home, with the standard horror thrills of a dangerous killer on the loose. James Ashcroft, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Eli Kent, explores the pangs of aging without compromising classic horror tropes. And when you have Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow magnificently raising hell, there is no option but to work wonderfully well as a film.

The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush), a formidably strict judge, does not mince words when delivering his judgment. The film starts with Stefan berating a mother who could not protect her daughter from being molested. To Stefan, not standing up is culpable. Things take a sharp turn for Stefan as he suffers a stroke, rendering him paralyzed. The state enrolls him...

Robert De Niro’s political thriller Zero Day is launching later this month, but the series won’t be the last you see of the star on Netflix. The Oscar-winning actorwill appear in The Whisper Man, a new adaptation of Alex North’s bestselling novel of the same name. Also starring in the film are Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone) and Adam Scott (Severance).

Directed by James Ashcroft and written by Ben Jacoby (The First Omen) and Chase Palmer (It), The Whisper Man is Netflix’s sixth partnership with the Russo brothers’ company Agbo.

“Agbo is excited to be embarking on our sixth film with our incredible partners at Netflix,” Agbo chief creative officer Angela Russo-Otstot said. “The Whisper Man is a gripping thriller but at its core is a poignant and complex story of father and sons. We are grateful to have one...

Every so often, a film comes along that, from the outset, might appear relatively inconsequential. Perhaps it features two actors with a résumé as long and exceptional as any Hollywood legend; possibly its nursing home setting and premise of a demented resident terrorizing his fellow denizens look to lean into a genre indistinguishable from your garden variety psychological thriller, even light horror to an extent. Surely, nothing is lurking within the confines of such a film to suggest the moviegoing equivalent of a bobsled flipping upside down, no?

Continue reading ‘The Rule Of Jenny Pen’ Review: John Lithgow And Geoffrey Rush Can’t Help This Baffling Thriller at The Playlist.

Last month, it was announced that Robert De Niro will be following up the Netflix series Zero Day with another Netflix project, as he has signed on to star in the serial killer crime thriller The Whisper Man for Agbo and the streaming service. Now, Deadline has revealed that De Niro is being joined in the cast by The White Lotus star Michelle Monaghan and Severance star Adam Scott.

Based on Alex North’s bestselling novel of the same name, The Whisper Man will be directed by James Ashcroft. Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer are writing the script. The story centers on a widower crime writer who, after his 8-year-old son is abducted, looks to his estranged father, a retired former police detective, for help, only to discover a connection with the decades-old case of a convicted serial killer known as “The Whisper Man.”

Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Angela Russo-Otstot,...

Plot: 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.

Review: Jonathan Lithgow may just be the most versatile actor working today. He manages to be loveable goofballs and awful killers with an ease that inspires disbelief. He fully commits and has you believing whatever he wants. So it’s exciting to see him returning to the horror genre in The Rule of Jenny Pen, a film where he takes up the mantle of main villain. Because if there’s one thing that’s terrifying, it’s elderly abuse. But rather than focusing on that, and really getting under the viewers skin, this film is more interested in giving us creepy shots of a doll that go nowhere.

The Rule of Jenny Pen follows...

Whenever you get veteran stars on the level of John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush in leading roles on screen, attention must be paid.

This teaming, and opportunity for Lithgow (79) and Rush (73) in an industry that doesn’t often offer this kind of chance for its veteran stars. is rare. But in director James Ashcroft’s creepy nursing home drama The Rule of Jenny Pen they get one and go for it with no brakes applied. It is deliriously delicious to watch, if sometimes difficult to digest.

Actually, it is almost impossible to see this film and not compare it to the swath of horror films offered to veteran golden age stars, well past their prime, in the 1960s with everything from Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte to Lady in a Cage, Dead Ringer, What’s The Matter With Helen? and on and on. But the movie that comes firmly to mind...

The Rule of Jenny Pen took audiences by surprise at Fantastic Fest 2024, where filmmaker and co-writer James Ashcroft (Coming Home in the Dark) earned Best Director for his adaptation of Owen Marshall's frightening short story. Unsurprisingly, both legendary leads, Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow, took home Best Actor Awards on the festival circuit shortly before IFC and Shudder acquired the mystery horror.

Horror thrives in situations where someone or something is preying on the vulnerable. It's a frightening set-up, with probable victims unable to contend easily with these forces by definition. The vulnerability of children (like Pan's Labyrinth's Ofelia or The Babadook's Samuel), the grieving (Amelia (Essie Davis), also of The Babadook), the lost (too many to mention), or even the temporarily distracted (so many having sex in so many slashers) easily make for dangerous situations and characters audiences can empathize with. It's truly a match made in hell, at least for our endangered protagonists. There are few communities more vulnerable than the elderly, which James Ashcroft's The Rule of Jenny Pen mines for a harrowing tale about a community plagued by a man with a dark side, and his creepy, creepy doll. It's a fine film that utilizes this vulnerability to strong effect (backed by excellent performances from...

How often have you wanted to turn to a rude movie patron and yell “Will you shut the fuck up?”

John Lithgow does just that to his The Rule of Jenny Pen co-star Geoffrey Rush in a PSA for Alamo Drafthouse.

In the humorous clip below, Lithgow performs Shakespeare’s Richard II while Rush is a nuance to society who can’t stay off his phone in the theater.

Praised by Stephen King as “one of the best movies I’ve seen this year,” The Rule of Jenny Pen hits theaters this weekend from IFC Films.

A former judge (Rush), confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, must stop an elderly psychopath (Lithgow) who employs a child’s puppet to abuse the home’s residents with deadly consequences.

George Henare, Nathaniel Lees, Thomas Sainbury, and Ian Mune round out the cast.

The New Zealand production...

HBO is slowly building out the cast list for its upcoming Harry Potter reboot. Most recently, it filled one of the most important roles in the entire franchise: Professor Albus Dumbledore, who will be played by Shrek star John Lithgow in the new series. Despite being a beloved actor who has starred in everything from Third Rock From the Sun to Star Wars, Lithgow's casting was seen as being controversial because he's American. Fans rushed to social media to complain about the casting, but Lithgow is putting everyone's minds at ease as he promises to do the character justice.

During an interview with Collider, to promote his new movie The Rule of Jenny Pen, Lithgow addressed the controversy surrounding his Harry Potter casting. When asked if he's started prep for how he's going to play Dumbledore, Lithgow said, "Not a lot, but he's certainly an Englishman." The actor revealed he...

When you think of the iconic, word-twisting voice behind Jedi Master Yoda, the first name that probably comes to mind is Frank Oz, and rightfully so. Oz first voiced the character in The Empire Strikes Back, the 1980 Star Wars classic that earned over $550 million at the worldwide box office, and he recently lent his voice to the character in The Rise of Skywalker, the controversial final installment in the Skywalker Saga. However, there have been others to voice the small green Force-user, including Tom Kane, Piotr Michael, and even John Lithgow. Lithgow recently caught up with Collider’s Steve Weintraub for the film The Rule of Jenny Pen, and he spoke about not only remembering every detail about playing Yoda but also the hilarious way in which he first landed the role:...

"Will you shut the F up!" Listen to these guys! Pay attention to the movie, stop talking and put away your phones. Simple as that – this is the right way to experience a movie together at the movie theater. Another fun Alamo Drafthouse PSA has just arrived online – this time it features the two legendary actors John Lithgow & Geoffrey Rush together. Last year they visited the Alamo Drafthouse cinema in Austin, Texas to premiere their horror film called The Rule of Jenny Pen (which I am a big fan of as well) at Fantastic Fest. It's opening soon in theaters this week so this video is dropping now. They recorded this fun video for the Drafthouse cinema chain which will play in front of movies at the chain. It's their usual reminder that their rule (which should be the rule at All cinemas) is that if you talk during the...

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during Fantastic Fest 2024. IFC Films opens “The Rule of Jenny Pen” in select theaters Friday, March 7, with a Shudder premiere on March 28.

When recommended a beach-read by a roommate he doesn’t want, the academic Judge Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush) scoffs, “All those books say the same thing.”

10 years after Julianne Moore won her Oscar for “Still Alice,” moviegoers could argue something similar about an indie drama casting an elite actor as a dementia patient in rapid decline. Those audiences will be the least prepared for “The Rule of Jenny Pen” and may feel its singular wrath stronger than most. That’s an enviable position to be in for one of recent memory’s more unusual thrillers — even if its lack of narrative convention veers more vexing in the end.

Directed by James Ashcroft, this punishing dark genre blend acquired by Shudder...

The Rule of Jenny Pen brings together two legends of the silver screen, Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow – in roles you’ll have never seen them in before. Given their remarkable list of credits, that’s saying something. In this droll, and dark New Zealand horror flick, the venerable duo lock horns in home for the elderly, and things get, well, pretty wild.

We had the absolute pleasure in speaking to the pair, to discuss the project at hand, while also taking a look back at their respective careers. Whether they keep souvenirs from memorable roles and projects, and on their own history together, and when they first met. Through conversation comes a recollection of stories, but we don’t just reminisce, also looking ahead to future roles, such as Rush adoring the iconic moustache of a certain Groucho Marx…

Watch the full interview with Geoffrey Rush & John Lithgow here:...

James Ashcroft’s tyrannical elder care horror tale carries a psychological sting. The New Zealand filmmaker adapts Kiwi writer Owen Marshall a second time after his debut Coming Home in the Dark, “Jenny Pen” a more unlikely nightmare. Performance titans Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow confront themes of bullying, manipulation, and power struggles that echo relevance outside old folks’ homes—but the setting remains unique. Ashcroft and co-writer Eli Kent script unsettling helplessness within a facility where residents should feel cared for, instigating delicious chaos using a plastic-headed baby doll known as the menace Jenny Pen.

Rush stars as the honorable Judge Stefan Mortensen, who finds himself at Royal Pine Mews Care Home after suffering a debilitating stroke. His roommate is legendary rugby gunner Tony Garfield (George Henare), but Mortensen isn’t keen to make friends. He’s convinced he’ll rehabilitate, then move back to the big city—lofty...

Three decades on from Brian De Palma’s gleefully unhinged psychological thriller Raising Cain, John Lithgow has once again found a cinematic role to showcase his panache for exuding deranged evil. New Zealand director James Ashcroft’s The Rule of Jenny Pen, following up his Sundance-selected Coming Home in the Dark, finds Lithgow as Dave Crealy, a nursing-home resident who delights in unleashing a torrent of psychological and physical torment against cohabitants of the facility, most notably newly arrived Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush). While loogies are hawked and bags of piss thrown about in the film’s more absurdly mounted sequences, Ashcroft is digging into the underbelly of such facilities as caretakers ignore genuine feelings for the geriatric in order to maintain the status quo of keeping people temporarily happy and sedated. While the result is a half-entertaining showcase for Lithgow, a satisfying point to this interminable deprivation never manages to emerge.

You probably don't have "Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow going at each other's throats" on your 2025 Bingo card. It's worthy of note how, even though Lithgow is the villain in their new thriller The Rule of Jenny Pen, he gets top billing over Rush, an Oscar-winner from The King's Speech. It's a film that relishes its villainy, and Lithgow is riding hot after his standout — and also villainous — turn in Edward Berger's red-hot feature, Conclave. Lithgow remains very much in the news after being cast as the iconic Dumbledore character in the new and highly anticipated Harry Potter series (and being a funny part of the recent 97th Academy Awards telecast).

It's also noteworthy that Lithgow, very much an American performer, dons a flawless English accent in his new horror-thriller from IFC Films and Shudder. Meanwhile, don't sleep on the reliably committed Geoffrey Rush here, aka "Barbosa" to the...

The namesake for James Ashcroft’s The Rule of Jenny Pen is a creepy hand puppet. Her eye sockets are empty, turning what’s otherwise a nondescript, cherubic face into something sinister. Adored by Dave Crealey (John Lithgow), she’s part of a therapy program in an elder care facility, but the therapy isn’t working, what with the man incorporating the doll into the physical and sexual abuse that he visits upon the other residents.

A more conventional film might have suggested haunted goings-on, obfuscating where Dave ends and Jenny Pen begins. But Ashcroft’s thriller, which he and co-writer Eli Kent adapted from Owen Marshall’s short story, is all Dave, and Lithgow is phenomenal as the aging psychopath. Throughout, the actor’s body language exudes violent entitlement whether Dave is greedily hunched over his mealtime sludge or yanking on a man’s catheter.

Though he’s at the opposite end of life,...

The conversations that we have as a society about care homes are peculiar. They always seem to revolve around what we would like for our parents, and not what we might need for ourselves. This distancing extends to their invisibility in the realm of fiction – they’re just not a part of the stories we share, or at least not with residents as protagonists. The Rule Of Jenny Pen is an odd blend of drama and horror, with aspects of the Gothic, which doesn’t always succeed in its aims, but which is important in light of its willingness to explore this territory.

The story revolves around Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush), a strict, irascible judge whom we first see very deliberately crushing an insect as it crawls across his desk. His harsh words for a mother who tries to thank him for sentencing the man who abused her children might make viewers.

Once Geoffrey Rush hit his mid-60s, he was offered more and more roles where his age was the focal point. Yet when he read the script for “The Rule of Jenny Pen,” the nursing home-set horror film offered a different angle.

Rush plays Stefan Mortensen, a tough-talking judge who suffers a stroke and must live in an assisted living facility. Unfortunately, one of the other wards is Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), who terrorizes the residents in increasingly sinister ways — along with the help of his hand puppet, Jenny Pen. As Dave gets more emboldened to do terrible things in the nursing home, Stefan loses more and more of his faculties, having to take down his nemesis as his motor skills fade.

“I’ve had quite a few scripts sent my way in the last eight years that felt like treading water,” the 73-year-old actor says. “But in this, his brain deteriorates — actually,...

John Lithgow (Conclave) and Geoffrey Rush (Shine) are currently doing the press rounds for their psychological horror film The Rule of Jenny Pen, which will be getting a theatrical release, courtesy of IFC Films, on March 7th – and during their Jake’s Takes interview, they were asked for their thoughts on the horror films that were coming out when they were getting their careers started in the 1970s and ’80s. This allowed us to get some nice horror references from Lithgow and Rush, with my favorite moment being when Rush admits that the original Friday the 13th, released in 1980, gave him a panic attack when he saw it in the theatre!

Rush said, “Friday the 13th gave me an attack in the theatre. I had a serious panic attack watching that film. But I was more drawn towards Alien. Alien, when it came out, just came out of nowhere, and you went,...

Earlier this month it was revealed that John Lithgow was in talks to play Professor Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series. Today, the actor confirmed the news while speaking with ScreenRant.

“Well, it came as a total surprise to me. I just got the phone call up at the Sundance Film Festival for yet another film, and it was not an easy decision because it’s going to define me for the last chapter of my life, I’m afraid. But I’m very excited,” Lithgow said. “Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter. That’s why it’s been such a hard decision. I’ll be about 87 years old at the wrap party, but I’ve said yes.“

Many other actors have been reported in consideration for the series, but this is as close to an official reveal as we’ve had.

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is coming back to screens – like anyone would believe otherwise. While there are currently questions over whether it will be with Johnny Depp, Margot Robbie, or someone completely different at the helm, one original star would be more than happy to make a small appearance – and even has his own hilarious pitch as to how it could happen. While speaking exclusively to MovieWeb’s George Edelman while promoting his new movie The Rule of Jenny Pen, the legendary Geoffrey Rush addressed a possible swashbuckling return as ne'er-do-well pirate Barbossa. He said:

“I had a good time on that over a very long period. It was probably 12, 15 years or something, from beginning to end. But after the final chapter, I've died twice, and I didn't want an exhumation. I thought it would have been wrong having sacrificed his life for his own child, yeah, and I thought,...

The Rule Of Jenny Pen brings together a freaky doll, John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush. Here’s a trailer to prove it.

Here’s a film that we didn’t know we needed until the trailer arrived. It also includes a contender for the scariest toy of 2025. The titular monkey from The Monkey and the robot kid from M3GAN 2.0 might have to settle for playing second and third fiddle to this strange creation, because it has a secret weapon up its tiny sleeve: John Lithgow.

The freakish puppet is set to be wielded by Lithgow to terrifying effect in The Rule Of Jenny Pen. The film will see Lithgow star opposite Geoffrey Rush and of course, the talented doll, (we don’t want to get on the wrong side of that monstrous creation!) in a single location psychological thriller.

Here’s the synopsis:

‘Confined to a secluded rest home...

In the wake of “Conclave” doing quite well during awards season, co-star John Lithgow has another meaty project on the horizon with “The Rule of Jenny Pen.” The psychological thriller from IFC Films and Shudder sees Lithgow in a retirement home causing havoc for his roommate, played by Geoffrey Rush (“The King’s Speech”), by using a psychological game to torture the former Judge in their isolated living space.

Continue reading ‘The Rule Of Jenny Pen’ Trailer: John Lithgow Returns To His Thriller Roots This March at The Playlist.

John Lithgow plays an elderly care home tyrant out to drive an arrogant and partially paralyzed judge, played by Geoffrey Rush, insane in the official trailer for The Rule of Jenny Pen, which dropped Monday.

The psychological thriller from director James Ashcroft, set to hit theaters March 7, has Lithgow playing Dave Crealy, a retirement home resident out to terrorize fellow residents with a sadistic game called “The Rule of Jenny Pen,” which includes a dementia doll wielded as an instrument of cruelty.

“Who rules?” a creepy Crealy, doll in hand, at one point in the trailer asks a tormented Judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush), who is bed ridden after suffering a near-fatal stroke. But the teaser foreshadows Mortensen soon engaged in a deadly struggle with the care home bully after his pleas for help to staff go unheeded and he looks to end Crealy’s reign of terror.

The Rule of Jenny Pen,...

The promotion train for James Ashcroft's horror thriller, The Rule of Jenny Pen, just keeps chugging along, inching towards it's March 7th theatrical premiere. Distributor IFC Films have sent out a new trailer and poster this morning. Check both of them out, down below. Arrogant Judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush) 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 (Lithgow) 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...

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"We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing." IFC Films has revealed the full official trailer for The Rule of Jenny Pen, a mega scary horror film made by Kiwi filmmaker James Ashcroft. Ready for release in theaters in the US this March, after first premiering at Fantastic Fest & Sitges last year. Keep an eye out for it - bring all your friends and scare them with this film. 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 and terrorize the home's many residents with deadly consequences. The indie horror stars John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, and George Henare as the main three characters. The film is about an extra freaky old dude who torments others living there with a plastic doll he puts on his hand.

Last month, we heard that John Lithgow (Conclave) and Geoffrey Rush (Shine) star in a psychological horror film called The Rule of Jenny Pen, which will be getting a theatrical release, courtesy of IFC Films, on March 7th – and now, with the release date just a few weeks away, IFC Films has unveiled a trailer for the film! You can check it out in the embed above.

Directed by James Ashcroft, who made his feature directorial debut with the 2021 horror thriller Coming Home in the Dark, The Rule of Jenny Pen has the following synopsis: Arrogant Judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush) 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 (Lithgow) who secretly terrorizes the home with a sadistic game called “The Rule of Jenny Pen” while...

Unfriendly Friend Demo: "Hey. Dakota here.

I'm a high school student. My friends and I decided to explore St. Mercy Hospital, an old place abandoned for decades. Things got weird fast.

You can step into my shoes in this RPG adventure horror game.

Here's what you're in for:

My choices? They matter. A lot. And trust me, the consequences are... let's say "varied." This place? It's terrifying. Dark corners, weird noises, and everything about it screams danger. Puzzles. Because apparently being scared wasn't enough. We get to be scared And stuck. I'm carrying around more random junk than I'd like to admit. But hey, you never know when a rusty scalpel might save your life. Oh, and there are stories everywhere. In journals, on walls, in whispers. This hospital's got a lot to say.

Look, I'm not here to sell you on some epic adventure. This is my nightmare, and for some reason,...

Academy Award Nominee John Lithgow plays a psychopath armed with a creepy puppet who terrorizes a retirement home in The Rule of Jenny Pen, and the brand new trailer highlights his character’s unsettling menace.

The Rule of Jenny Pen releases in theaters on March 7, 2025.

Academy Award Winner Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) stars opposite Lithgow’s villain as the unlucky target of his ire.

In the film, “Arrogant Judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush) 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 (Lithgow), 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...

Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow are living proof that it’s never too late to become horror icons thanks to their work in the upcoming feature, The Rule of Jenny Pen. A brand-new trailer released today solidifies the pair of legendary actors’ horror king statuses as they take center stage as two feuding nursing home patients in the latest to come from James Ashcroft (Coming Home in the Dark). We’ve been hearing about this one-of-a-kind feature for months since its debut at the Fantastic Fest back in September, and now we’re one step closer to watching the madness play out when the title arrives in cinemas on March 7.

John Lithgow's upcoming Shudder original horror movie has received a streaming release date.

Based on a short story written by Owen Marshal, the upcoming James Ashcroft-directed horror film The Rule of Jenny Pen will be available for streaming on Shudder on March 28th. Per Collider, the theatrical release date is March 7th. The film will be available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Ireland.

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The film will see Lithgow take up the role of Dave Crealy, a twisted retirement home resident. The Rule of Jenny Pen's synopsis reads, "Arrogant Judge Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush), who suffers a near-fatal stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed and confined to a retirement home. There, Mortensen clashes with a...