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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...

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,...

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,...

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...

Lauded by Stephen King as "one of the best movies I've seen this year" in 2024, James Ashcroft's The Rule of Jenny Pen pits a former judge recovering from a stroke (Geoffrey Rush) against a sadistic resident with a creepy doll (John Lithgow) within the increasingly eerie confines of a retirement home. Ahead of its March 7th theatrical release via IFC Films and Shudder, we have a look at the unnerving teaser trailer for The Rule of Jenny Pen that warns that "we all get what's coming to us in the end."

Below, you can watch the teaser trailer for The Rule of Jenny Pen, and in case you missed it, read Rocco T. Thompson's Fantastic Fest review of the film!

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,...

John Lithgow (Conclave) and Geoffrey Rush (Shine) star in the psychological horror film The Rule of Jenny Pen, which will be getting a theatrical release, courtesy of IFC Films, on March 7th – and with that date swiftly approaching, a batch of stills from the film have arrived online, and along with a teaser poster. You can take a look at the images here in this article.

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 wielding...

Praised by Stephen King last September as one of the best horror movies he saw last year, Shudder and IFC Films’ The Rule of Jenny Pen finally has a release date here in early 2025.

The Rule of Jenny Pen is coming to theaters on March 7. The film will make its at-home debut on Shudder at a later date this year. In the meantime, find the official poster below.

Stephen King summed up the movie in his own words last year by saying, “Geoffrey Rush stars, with John Lithgow as a geriatric psychopath with an evil hand puppet.”

In the film, “A former judge goes toe-to-toe with an elderly psychopath who is using a hand puppet to terrorize the residents at an assisted living facility.”

Directed by James Ashcroft and co-written by Eli Kent and Ashcroft, this year’s The Rule of Jenny Pen follows Ashcroft’s acclaimed feature debut Coming Home in the Dark.

When Stephen King takes to Twitter to rave about a horror movie, horror fans across the world scramble to get their hands on it. The latest King-approved horror movie is titled The Rule of Jenny Pen, and while King wants you to watch it, that’s not actually possible… yet.

Stephen King took to Twitter this week to rave about The Rule of Jenny Pen, a psychological thriller that just premiered at Fantastic Fest last week. The good news? It’s coming to Shudder in 2025, with the streaming service just announcing the news a couple weeks back.

King tweets, “I watched one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It’s called The Rule Of Jenny Pen, and I urge you to watch it when it appears on Shudder. Geoffrey Rush stars, with John Lithgow as a geriatric psychopath with an evil hand puppet.”

Check out King’s...

Shudder has announced today that they’ve acquired the rights to psychological thriller The Rule of Jenny Pen, directed by James Ashcroft and co-written by Eli Kent and Ashcroft, and starring John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush.

The rights will cover North America, UK and Ireland. The Rule of Jenny Pen will world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024 later this month, and will debut on the streamer in 2025.

The film follows “arrogant Judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush), who 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...

Shudder has acquired the rights to “The Rule of Jenny Pen,” a thriller about a stroke-ridden judge trying to stop an elderly psychopath that stars Oscar-nominee John Lithgow and Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush. The film was directed by James Ashcroft, who co-wrote the screenplay with Eli Kent.

The deal covers distribution in North America, the U.K. and Ireland. Shudder is owned by AMC Networks and is a streaming service focused on horror, thriller and supernatural movies and shows. “The Rule of Jenny Pen” will have its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024 later this month, and will debut on the streamer in 2025.

Ashcroft made his feature debut with “Coming Home in the Dark,” which world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Lithgow has appeared in such films as “Terms of Endearment,” “Cliffhanger” and “The World According to Garp.” On TV, he won Emmys for his work on “Dexter,” “Third Rock From the Sun” and “The Crown.

Scandinavian sales outfit LevelK has acquired world sales rights to New Zealand comedy-drama “Bellbird,” the feature debut of Hamish Bennett.

Produced by Orlando Stewart for Stella Maris Productions and Catherine Fitzgerald for Blueskin Films, Bellbird tells the story of a dairy farmer struggling to cope with the sudden death of his beloved wife, and the gradual bond he builds with his gentle only son and the local community. The movie, written by Bennett, is set over four seasons in a modest Northland dairy farm.

“The characters of ‘Bellbird’ were inspired by my childhood neighbours in the small rural Northland community of Tauraroa…” said Bennett whose last short, “Rose & Beth,” won prizes in New Zealand.

“You don’t see many outward displays of affection or emotion, (but) the love, the loyalty, the reliance – it can all be found in the little moments, buried under the layers of cheeky banter and cow shit,...