Bleak senior moments

Daniel King finds James Ashcroft’s exploration of torment in an old people’s home powerful but overly disturbing, while a toothless Hong Kong vampire comedy gets better treatment than it deserves

The Rule of Jenny Pen Dir James Ashcroft, NZ 2024 In cinemas 17 March This is a superbly made, but deeply upsetting, thriller about a psychopath who terrorises his fellow residents in a care home. Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush) is a judge who is recovering in a care home following a stroke. He is cantankerous, rude, snobbish and intolerant. He manages to alienate not only his roommateTony Garfield (David Henare), a former All Black, but also the staff, particularly the brusque manager Madeline (Holly Shanahan). However, Stefan soon realises that there is an even more unpleasant resident than himself in the home: doll-wielding Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), who enjoys cruelly tormenting people during the night. It’s a curious film. In some quarters it’s being promoted as a horror film, in…

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