• News

Official trailer for “THE RULE OF JENNY PEN” emerges

Two powerhouse actors and one creepy doll are coming next month.

IFC Films and Shudder are bringing THE RULE OF JENNY PEN exclusively to theaters March 7. Directed by James Ashcroft and based, like Ashcroft’s previous COMING HOME IN THE DARK, on a short story by Owen Marshall, it was written by Eli Kent and Ashcroft. John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, George Henare, Nathaniel Lees, Thomas Sainbury, Ian Mune and Irene Wood star; the 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 his dementia doll as an instrument of cruelty. What begins as childish torment quickly escalates into far more sinister and disturbing incidents. When Mortensen’s pleas to the staff go unanswered, he takes it upon himself to put an end to Crealy’s reign of terror.”

Read More

Get The Grim Reader.
Rue Morgue's free newsletter.
Editor's notes.
Cultural insight.
Curated horror across film, books, music, and art.
First looks.
Select previews.
No algorithms.
Join Free

Advertisement

In Print Since 1997

Issue 232

#232 Halloween 2026

Plus

Resident Evil | Designing Dracula | Exorcist II FEATURES How Weapons director Zach Cregger turned a lifelong obsession with Resident Evil into horror’s most anticipated reboot. Plus: A deep look at the Resident Evil video game franchise and its universe of novelizations, board and card games and more, and a look at Cregger’s long-awaited physical…

Issue 231

#231 Summer Slasher Issue 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #231 – Summer Slasher Issue FEATURES Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA guts the slasher formula from the inside out, turning it into a romance about the horror of becoming who you were always meant to be. Plus! GILLIAN ANDERSON and HANNAH EINBINDER unpack Schoenbrun’s radical dismemberment of…

Issue 230

#230 May/Jun 2026 – RARE

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #230 FEATURES Filmmaker Curry Barker transforms a simple wish into a spiralling nightmare of love, possession, and bloodshed in his breakout feature OBSESSION. Plus: The story of Barker’s found-footage shocker MILK & SERIAL, which turned a micro-budget experiment into a viral horror breakout. Hollywood made it a monster. History tells a different…

Issue 229

#229 Mar/Apr 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #229! FEATURES A nerve-shredding found-footage thriller built around sound, UNDERTONE signals the arrival of a terrifying new voice in Canada’s booming independent horror scene. Plus! Meet the new breed of independent Canadian horror filmmakers behind DREAM EATER, SWEETNESS, HANGASHORE, THE LAND OF NOD and THE CURSE OF GHOST ISLAND. Part post-punk, part…