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Praised by Stephen King as “one of the best movies I’ve seen this year,” The Rule of Jenny Pen will be released on Blu-ray on July 8.

John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush star in the New Zealand psychological horror film, currently streaming on Shudder.

Special Features:

Behind the Scenes of The Rule of Jenny Pen

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 pleas to the staff go unanswered, he takes it upon himself to put an...

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...

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...

Geoffrey Rush’s retired judge is terrorised by Lithgow’s therapy puppet-wielding fellow resident in this claustrophobic tale of elder-on-elder abuse

Film-maker James Ashcroft has created a scary and intimately upsetting psychological horror based on a story by New Zealand author Owen Marshall set in a care home, a film whose coolly maintained claustrophobic mood and bravura performances make up for the slight narrative blurring towards the end. It’s a movie about bullying and elder abuse – more specifically, elder-on-elder abuse – and it is always most chilling when it sticks to the realist constraints of what could actually happen.

The locale is an un-luxurious residential care facility where a retired judge is now astonished to find himself; this is Stefan Mortensen, played by Geoffrey Rush, who succumbed to a catastrophic stroke while passing judgment from the bench. He is a cantankerous and high-handed man, furious to be in this demeaning place and who,...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

"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.

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...

James Ashcroft’s debut Coming Home in The Dark (2021) is one of our bleakest contemporary thrillers and his sophomore feature The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025) is equally as dark. When it isn’t lingering in the frailty of the elderly or the sad reality of those same people being abandoned by their loved ones, it’s chock full of psychological & physical abuse at the hands of genuine madman. But don’t let that scare you away! The Rule of Jenny Pen is a brilliantly deranged slice of cinema with one hell of a scumbag for a villain.

Ashcroft and his writing partner have a real knack for bringing author Owen Marshall’s deliciously sadistic antagonists to life (Marshall being the original writer of the short stories which Ashcroft’s two features are based). John Lithgow, no slouch in the pantheon of evil bastards delivers a wickedly wacky performance as a retirement home predator,...

We all get what’s coming in the end with the official poster for The Rule of Jenny Pen.

Praised by Stephen King as “one of the best movies I’ve seen this year,” the film hits theaters on March 7 from IFC Films and will stream on Shudder later this year.

Geoffrey Rush stars as a former judge, confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body,who must stop an elderly psychopath, played by John 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 directed by James Ashcroft from a script he co-wrote with Eli Kent, based on the short story of the same name by Owen Marshall. The three creatives previously collaborated on Coming Home in the Dark.

Keep an eye...

This March looks to be another good month for horror, with the theatrical releases of the sci-fi horror thriller Ash and the horror comedy Death of a Unicorn. Also joining the March lineup is the horror flick The Rule of Jenny Pen, and IFC Films has released a new teaser trailer to get people talking and excited about the upcoming movie.

Coming from IFC Films and Shudder, The Rule of Jenny Pen premiered at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, in September 2024, and was later screened at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain in October of that year. Now, it's about to be available for a wider audience with its U.S. theatrical release on Friday, March 7, 2025. Like many other movies, it's based on another piece of work. It's a feature adaptation of New Zealand author Owen Marshall's short story of the same name.

James Ashcroft co-wrote the screenplay with...

"We all get what's coming to us in the end..." IFC Films has unveiled a new US teaser trailer for The Rule of Jenny Pen, a very creepy horror film from Kiwi filmmaker James Ashcroft. It's now set for a US release starting in early March in limited theaters, after premiering at Fantastic Fest & Sitges last year. Keep an eye out for it. 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. The film is about an extra freaky old dude who torments others living there with a plastic doll he puts on his hand. One of the most unsettling horror stories I've seen recently - I raved...

"He's the menace! He's been at me since the jump." Rialto Distribution in New Zealand is the first to reveal the official trailer for The Rule of Jenny Pen, a horror thriller from the Kiwi filmmaker James Ashcroft. This is his second feature after making Coming Home in the Dark and it's already getting rave reviews. The Rule of Jenny Pen premiered at both Fantastic Fest and at the Sitges Film Festival (where I caught it) earlier this fall. 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 residents with deadly consequences. The indie horror film stars John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, and George Henare. Yes this is about an old timer who torments others with a plastic doll he puts on his hand, and it's creepy as hell!

Horror has always had an issue with old people. The genre tends to view the geriatric body as an object of fear rather than tackling the realities of the aging process itself in all its complexity. For every Relic (2020), a film that treats the ravages of time and decay with respect, there’s The Front Room (2024), a horror yarn predicated on the seemingly acceptable prejudice that old people are just plain scary and gross. But James Ashcroft’s Fantastic Fest opener, The Rule of Jenny Pen, is the all-too-rare horror thriller that treats aging with all the dignity it deserves without ignoring the abject, all too relatable terror of losing yourself to the relentless march of time.

The film opens with Judge Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush) suffering a public stroke as he’s handing down a sentence. Humiliated, but in need of rehabilitation, he checks into Royale Pine Mews, an...

Sam Neill in ‘Ride Like A Girl’.

Actor, writer, producer and director Sam Neill has been named the recipient of the 2019 Equity New Zealand Lifetime Achievement Award, after being nominated by the Equity board and other Kiwi performers.

“Sam’s career as an actor is remarkable, but what makes this award so special is that it recognises much more than career success,” says Equity Nz president Jennifer Ward-Lealand.

“It acknowledges those members of our industry who give back at every opportunity, who strive to use their influence for important causes and who continually inspire their peers with their good will and humility. Sam leads by example. This award pays tribute to who he is as a person, as much it does his extraordinary talent.”

Neill joined Equity in 1979, and has more than 75 films and over 45 television programs to his credit. His film debut was in Roger Donaldson’s Sleeping Dogs...

Stars: James Rolleston, Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan, Raukura Turei, George Henare, Rena Owen, Pana Hema Taylor, Calvin Tuteao, Jamus Webster, Bianca Hyslop, Isabella Rakete, Matariki Whatarau, Wairangi Koopu, Jeff Ruha | Written by Glenn Standring | Directed by Toa Fraser

Hongi (James Rolleston) – a Māori chieftain’s teenage son – must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honour to the souls of his loved ones after his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery. Vastly outnumbered by a band of villains, led by Wirepa (Te Kohe Tuhaka), Hongi’s only hope is to pass through the feared and forbidden Dead Lands and forge an uneasy alliance with the mysterious “Warrior” (Lawrence Makoare), a ruthless fighter who has ruled the area for years.

I actually found The Dead Lands really entertaining. Not only is the film filled to the brim with crazy Māori fight sequences which look brutal and realistic,...

“A powerful and gripping tale of revenge” and “A powerful and primal coming of age story that’s an absolute adrenaline rush” are just some of the words of praise Peter Jackson and James Cameron have respectively given "The Dead Lands." The three-time New Zealand Film And TV Award-winner is landing stateside, and today we have an exclusive look at the bloody opening sequence of the film. Read More: King Of The World: The Films Of James Cameron Directed by Toa Fraser, and starring James Rolleston, Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan, George Henare, Raukura Turei, and Rena Owen, the story follows a Maori chieftain's teenage son who must avenge his father's murder in order to bring peace and honor to the souls of his loved ones after his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery. But it won't be easy going and this opening scene shows the...

World peace, even on a small scale, will never be achievable because there’s always some bastard craving the taste of blood. That’s the dilemma faced by Tane (George Henare) and his tribe who are hoping to make peace with their neighbors, but when that opposing chief’s son, Wirepa (Te Kohe Tuhaka), arrives with a squad of warriors in tow it’s clear that war is coming. Quite soon in fact as Wirepa and his men kill Tane and his people leaving only the women and the chief’s son alive. Young Hongi (James Rolleston) is no warrior — we know because we’re told this repeatedly — but as the last man standing from his tribe he sets out after Wirepa with revenge on his mind. He follows his prey into the Dead Lands, a dense section of the forest forbidden to trespassers and home to tales of a monster who eats human flesh, but...

Rick Grimes and and the living dead of Robert Kirkman's comic book world get a new look from artist Gilbert Hernandez in the Wizard World Las Vegas variant cover art for The Walking Dead #1. Also featured in our latest round-up are release details for The Lazarus Effect Blu-ray, as well as the trailer for The Dead Lands.

Variant Cover for The Walking Dead #1: Press Release - "Las Vegas, April 13, 2015 -- Wizard World, Inc. (Otcbb: Wizd) and Skybound, Robert Kirkman’s imprint at Image Comics, today announced that Love & Rockets creator Gilbert Hernandez has drawn the seventh in a yearlong series of Limited Edition Exclusive Variant Covers of The Walking Dead #1 comic, to be provided free to all full-price attendees at the inaugural Wizard World Comic Con Las Vegas, April 24-26. Skybound’s The Walking Dead created by Kirkman, the groundbreaking, Eisner Award winning comic book series, continues to captivate audiences worldwide.

Robert Kirkman's All Out War story arc from The Walking Dead comic book series packs the panels with blood-soaked action, but it also features intriguing characters aplenty, and the folks at Diamond Select Toys have captured some of the characters from All Out War and other memorable story lines with The Walking Dead Minimates Series 7, including Rick, Jesus, and Negan. In our latest round-up, we also take a look at the respective trailers and release details for The Reconstruction of William Zero and The Dead Lands.

The Walking Dead Minimates Series 7: Priced at $119.88 as a group and at $9.99 apiece, The Walking Dead Minimates Series 7 are now available from Diamond Select Toys:

"A Diamond Select Toys release! The newest series of Walking Dead Minimates is here, and this time it’s war! Featuring characters from more recent issues of the hit comic book series, this assortment...

I had not yet heard of The Dead Lands when these exclusive images landed in my inbox but, after checking out the trailer, I'm very much onboard. James Cameron describes the film thusly, "A powerful and primal coming of age story that's an absolute adrenaline rush, The Dead Lands is far more than just a great action movie -- it's great cinema.” I haven't seen the entire movie by any means, but based on these stills and the very Nsfw trailer, I have a feeling he's onto something. Check out The Dead Lands images and trailer below. The film was written by Glenn Standring and directed by Toa Fraser. It stars James Rolleston, Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan, George Henare, Raukura Turei and Rena Owen. Magnet releases The Dead Lands in theaters and on VOD on April 17th. Here's the official synopsis: Hongi (James Rolleston) - a Maori...

Sorry for missing last week, dear readers, but I was so busy with work and other commitments that I had to let the column fall by the wayside. But I’m determined to not let that become a habit, and I’ve got something really cool for you this week. In this installment of Trailer Trashin’, I’m taking a look at the upcoming New Zealand action film The Dead Lands.

Premise: After his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery, Hongi (James Rolleston), the teenage son of a Maori chieftain, must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honor to the souls of his loved ones. Vastly outnumbered by a band of villains led by Wirepa (To Kohe Tuhaka), Hongi’s only hope is to pass through the feared and forbidden Dead Lands and forge an uneasy alliance with the mysterious Warrior (Lawrence Makoare...

Exclusive: Xyz Films and General Film Corporation has sold North American rights of the Toronto Film Festival film The Dead Lands to Magnet Releasing. The New Zealand-set action-thriller was directed by Toa Fraser, scripted by Glenn Standring and produced by Matthew Metcalfe and Standring. James Rolleston, Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan, George Henare and Rena Owen star. Magnolia’s Magnet will release in theaters next year and the deal was brokered by Magnet’s Peter Van Steemburg and Xyz’s Nate Bolotin.

Pic was shot in Auckland and the central North Island of New Zealand. Rolleston stars as a Maori chieftain’s teenage son who must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honor to the souls of his loved ones after his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery. Vastly outnumbered by the band of villains, Hongi’s only hope is to...

Exclusive: Toa Fraser’s action-thriller sells to UK, Germany and China, among others.

Xyz Films has closed a raft of deals led by a UK sale to Icon Film Distribution on The Dead Lands, already seen by press and industry and received its world premiere on Sept 4.

Rights have also gone to Ascot Elite for Germany, Movies Inspired for Italy, Fabula Films for Turkey, Falcon for the Middle East and Hgc for China. The Jokers previously acquired rights for France.

Toa Fraser’s New Zealand-set action-thriller is based on a screenplay by Glenn Standring, who produced with Matthew Metcalfe, Norman Merry and Tainui Stephens.

The film was shot on location in Auckland and the central North Island of New Zealand and follows a chieftan’s son who sets out to avenge his father’s murder.

James Rolleston from Boy stars alongside Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan, George Henare and Rena Owen.

Ian Dawson at [link...

Exclusive: Xyz Films has licensed French rights to Wild Side on its upcoming Maori combat project heading into the Efm.

Toa Fraser (pictured) is currently in production in New Zealand on The Dead Lands.

Xyz holds world rights excluding Australia and New Zealand and will show early footage to buyers in Berlin as part of a dynamic genre slate that includes Kevin Smith’s Tusk.

The Xyz Films principals told ScreenDaily they expect The Dead Lands to raise the profile of Maori hand-to-hand combat in the way their action franchise The Raid has done for the southeast Asian Silat martial art.

Glenn Standring wrote the screenplay about the vengeful son of a Maori chieftain who must enter the forbidden Dead Lands and forge a pact with the mysterious “Warrior” to avenge his slain tribe.

James Rolleston of Boy fame stars alongside Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan and Once Were Warriors cast members George Henare and Rena Owen...

Xyz Films has picked up world rights excluding Australia and New Zealand to the upcoming New Zealand-set action thriller featuring traditional Maori hand-to-hand combat.

Toa Fraser (pictured) will direct from a screenplay by Glenn Standring about a chieftain’s teenage son who must enter a feared region in order to avenge his father’s death.

James Rolleston from Boy, Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan, George Henare and Rena Owen will star.

Production is scheduled for later this month in Auckland and the central North Island of New Zealand. Matthew Metcalfe is the producer. Lord Of The Rings stunt co-ordinator Steve McQuillan will handle the action sequences.

General Film Corporation in association with the New Zealand Film Commission will finance with New Zealand Film Production Fund Trust, Te Mangai Paho, Images and Sound, Lip Sync and UK-based Day Tripper Films, backed by Ingenious Media.

“This is precisely the kind of elevated, culturally relevant...

Four Flat Whites In Italy

By Roger Hall

Skycity Theatre, Bruce Mason Centre & Various Venues / 11 June - 11 July

Starring Stuart Devenie - George Henare - Darien Takle - Annie Whittle - Toni Potter - Peter Daube

Holidays from hell were never so much fun!

Venice! Rome! Tuscany! With a copy of Lonely Planet in one hand and an Italian phrase book in the other, recently retired librarians Adrian and Alison feel prepared to face the excitement of la bella Italia.

Kevin Reynolds' Easter Island epic "Rapa Nui" works hard to dazzle one with its vision of a crumbling 17th-century Polynesian society cut off from the world. And like "The Last of the Mohicans", the Warner Bros. release successfully mixes ultra-romantic situations with detailed storytelling and rock-'em/sock-'em action sequences.

The exciting, unique film has sex appeal (lots of bare flesh), beautiful imagery and relevant messages about humankind's folly, but with no major stars, the film will be searching for an audience. Viewer reaction should be mixed, with the positive heralds prevailing. Getting the word out to twenty- and thirtysomethings is the secret to marketing this island adventure.

Produced by Kevin Costner and Jim Wilson, the sumptuously mounted "Rapa Nui" (the native islanders' name for Easter Island) imagines a Stone Age people self-destructing through environmental mismanagement and festering social inequity.

Discovered by Europeans in 1722, the complete story of Easter Island and the inhabitants who built the hundreds of striking "moai" stone statues has remained a tantalizing mystery ever since.

Reynolds, who wanted to make a film about the subject since childhood, and co-writer Tim Rose Price stick with the prevailing winds and make the island inhabitants long-lost Polynesian seafarers divided between the ruling-class Long Ears and working-class Short Ears.

Ostensibly ruled by an aging figurehead and opportunistic priest, the Long Ears order the carving and moving of relatively huge stone statues, but leave the grunt work to the Short Ears.

The multi-track plot concerns the rivalry between a fun-loving Long Ear Jason Scott Lee) and a smoldering Short Ear (Esai Morales), both of whom love a gorgeous Short Ear maid (Sandrine Holt). The longtime friends quickly become adversaries when Morales' character strikes a deal to enter the annual ritual race that decides who will rule the island. Meanwhile, the desperate creation of more "moai" continues to deforest the island and signal a looming disaster.

Cecil B. De Mille would have been proud of spectacular scenes showing the hauling and eventual toppling of the "moai." The dangerous race over volcanic cliffs and shark-infested waters that climaxes the film is a great payoff, while the concluding strife is grim and apocalyptic.

Lee and Morales are perfectly cast and equal to the considerable physical demands of their roles. Most of the major supporting roles are filled by Maori pros. Eru Potaka-Dewes ("The Piano") plays the island's aging patriarch as a near-senile dreamer. George Henare is also a solid presence as the smug priest.

Filmed on Easter Island locations, "Rapa Nui" is excellently lensed in wide-screen by Stephen F. Window and boasts huge outdoor sets from production designer George Liddle.

The film is frequently propelled (and almost overwhelmed) by Stewart Copeland's wall-to-wall score. Costumer John Bloomfield, with the help of makeup supervisor Peter Frampton and key hairstylist Paul D. Pattison, contributes the believable costumes, tattoos and elongated ears.

RAPA NUI

Warner Bros.

A TIG Productions/Majestic Films production

In association with RCS

A Film by Kevin Reynolds

Director Kevin Reynolds

Producers Kevin Costner, Jim Wilson

Screenplay Tim Rose Price, Kevin Reynolds

Executive producers Barrie M. Osborne, Guy East

Director of photography Stephen F. Window

Production designer George Liddle

Editor Peter Boyle

Music Stewart Copeland

Costume designer John Bloomfield

Casting Elisabeth Leustig

Color/Stereo

Cast:

Noro Jason Scott Lee

Make Esai Morales

Ramana Sandrine Holt

Tupa George Henare

Grandfather Eru Potaka-Dewes

Haoa Zac Wallace

Heke Faenza Reuben

Running time -- 107 minutes

MPAA Rating: R

(c) The Hollywood Reporter...