The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025) Dir. James Ashcroft

After an unexpected stroke, former Judge ‘Stefan’ is forced into an assisted living facility. Whilst there, he is forced into sadistic encounters with another psychopathic resident and his vicious puppet companion.

The Rule of Jenny Pen is the latest film from up-and-coming director James Ashcroft. This psychological horror provides some pretty disturbing scenes, fantastic performances from career veterans, and an interesting visual style that is sure to please fans of the genre. But sadly, this film's brutal approach to its subject matter creates such a disturbing narrative that it made this film quite a tough one to sit through for its entire runtime.

In my opinion the standout of this film is its editing. This film works because it builds tension so well, and keeps you on the edge of the seat throughout. Its constant smash cuts create an unsettling atmosphere that fits extremely well with the cast's unnerving presence on screen. This movie's cinematography is expertly put together especially considering its independent production, the care facility feels silently insidious, switching between dull lifeless colours and horrifying popping colours in an instant.

This film is heavily carried by its actors. John Lithgow plays the menacing antagonist ‘Dave Crealy’. Crealy is intensely sinister and commands the screen in every scene he is in. Lithgow really embodies the role, taking aspects of every iconic movie psychopath. There are bits of Norman Bates, Patrick Bateman, and the Joker in here. With all these elements combined Ashcroft creates an immensely horrible character, one that made me want to look away from the pure disrespect this character displayed. It's truly unhinged.

Geoffrey Rush is the leading man in the film. Stefan goes through a shocking amount of mental and physical torture, that every time he is faced against this movie villain it made me squirm in my seat. He plays a stroke victim with a lot of sympathy and portrays the illness with accuracy and in an appropriate way. As his illness gets worse throughout the film my heart broke more and more.

Whilst there is a lot of positives with this film, it doesn’t quite succeed in creating the thrill and rewards of a good psychological horror. Most of this movie's runtime is dedicated to a psychopath bullying, harassing, and abusing societies most vulnerable.

Ashcroft has such an unwavering brutality that after a certain amount of time the entertainment value drops in favour of harrowing scenes, this film contains no gore and no jump scares but still manages to provide an extremely uncomfortable watch.

Its ending also leaves so much to be desired and comes across has quite anti-climactic. From my perspective, having a character as unlikable as Dave Crealy also requires an ending that mirrors the atrocious acts he committed. It should be a rewarding and satisfactory ending as we see his demise, but sadly this film doesn’t even come close to being a fulfilling watch.

I am sure some people will like this film more than I, but the film should have dealt with its themes with a little more compassion and empathy.

★★★

3 / 5

Jacob Holmes

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The Rule of Jenny Pen is in UK cinemas 14 March from Vertigo Releasing