WITH a cast that includes John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush, I approached Kiwi psychological thriller The Rule of Jenny Pen with a nonchalant certainty of it being a sure thing.
What could go wrong, right?
As it turns out though, you do need a little more than Lithgow and Rush to make a great movie — mediocre even!
Ah, well, you can’t win them all.
Now streaming on Shudder, this film, based on a short story by Owen Marshall, and directed by James Ashcroft, is about bullying and elder abuse. And sure, it makes its blunt point with all the awkward grace of a tranquillised Donald Trump supporter.
So, as you can imagine, it’s far from pretty to watch. It’s all about as eloquent as Conor McGregor’s presidential pitch at the White House.
My heart actually broke for all the poor old dolls involved in the making of this balderdash. I didn’t know where to look, it was so demeaning.
Should I just break out the Ambrosia creamed rice? Drown my anguish in Horlicks? Or cut my losses altogether and switch over to Countryfile?
This was one blundering mess, and I could feel the ageing process takes it toll on me through every agonising moment of it.
Not since the days of the golden oldies singing along to ‘You Are My Sunshine’ on Going Strong with Bunny Carr did I feel so uncomfortable watching seniors being turned into toddlers before my very eyes on screen.
Stop the lights, indeed!
The Rule of Jenny Pen sees a former judge (Rush) confined to a secluded rest home, trapped within his stroke-ridden body. The retirement facility’s doddery psychopath (Lithgow), who employs a child’s puppet to abuse the home’s residents with deadly consequences, soon turns all his fiendish attention on their new house guest.
Despite his failing limbs, the judge must stop this tottering loon before the body count rises any further.
This one will put years on you.
I tell you, I needed my Complan after it.
(1/5)
