The Rule of Jenny Pen

A retired judge named Stefan Mortensen has a stroke that leaves him partly paralysed and confines him to a secluded care home, where he begins rehabilitation. Among the other residents is Dave Crealy, a man who uses a child's puppet to torment the people around him, and whose abuse of the home's residents turns deadly. Trapped in a body he can no longer control, Mortensen comes to see Crealy as the most dangerous opponent of his life and sets out to stop him.

The film is a New Zealand production directed by James Ashcroft, who wrote the screenplay with Eli Kent. It is Ashcroft's second feature, following Coming Home in the Dark in 2021 and preceding The Whisper Man in 2026. Geoffrey Rush plays Mortensen and John Lithgow plays Crealy, with Nathaniel Lees, Maaka Pohatu and Thomas Sainsbury among the credited cast of 132. Catherine Fitzgerald and Orlando Stewart produced the film for Light in the Dark Productions and Blueskin Films.

The Rule of Jenny Pen was released in March 2025 and runs 104 minutes. It blends horror, mystery and thriller elements. On IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from around 11,000 votes, and on TMDB it also sits at 6.1 out of 10, from a much smaller base of 178 votes. A film critics' rating of 6.6 out of 10 from 110 reviews places it somewhat above the audience scores on both platforms. The consistency across these measures points to a modest but real reception for a low-profile genre release.