By Internet Janitor
There is an awful lot to like here in The Rule of Jenny Pen, which looks like utter despair and features the performances of Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow. It is tension-filled, and we need more unconventional horror to counteract the dime-store nonsense Blumhouse puts out mostly. However, the film exists due to the negligent, utter incompetence of the care homes staff to the point it’s ridiculous that Lithgow’s character could have gotten away with this for so long. Now, yes, they give a morsel of a reason why, but that does not hold water. Just one single, solitary member of staff not being useless would have ended the movie very quickly.
The Rule of Jenny Pen tells us the story of Judge Stefan Mortensen (played by Geoffrey Rush) who, after a stroke, gets placed into hell (aka a seniors retirement community) and is immediately set upon by the clear as day, sign above his head, screaming it in peoples face, psychopath resident Dave Crealy (played by John Lithgow) and for the next hour and a half must fight him off while the staff drink paint.
Again, the performances are wonderful, and Lithgow is genuinely menacing, but I would have liked a little more backstory. A thread is given in a somewhat clever manner, but that’s it, and it just hurts. He’s feared like the devil by the staff, and perhaps some know what he is, but the fact that every single one of them turns a blind eye is maddening.
Sorry, I just cannot get past that fact. It irritated me the entire length of the movie and took me completely out of it. Am I reading into too much? It is a horror movie after all, but no, they didn’t do enough, almost nothing to explain how he gets away with terrorizing the entire place and randomly killing residents.
Despite Stephen King’s recommendation, pass on this one.