The Rule of Jenny Pen stars John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush discuss the panic-inducing Friday the 13th, Alien, & more

John Lithgow (Conclave) and Geoffrey Rush (Shine) are currently doing the press rounds for their psychological horror film The Rule of Jenny Pen, which will be getting a theatrical release, courtesy of IFC Films, on March 7th – and during their Jake’s Takes interview, they were asked for their thoughts on the horror films that were coming out when they were getting their careers started in the 1970s and ’80s. This allowed us to get some nice horror references from Lithgow and Rush, with my favorite moment being when Rush admits that the original Friday the 13th, released in 1980, gave him a panic attack when he saw it in the theatre!

Rush said, “Friday the 13th gave me an attack in the theatre. I had a serious panic attack watching that film. But I was more drawn towards Alien. Alien, when it came out, just came out of nowhere, and you went, ‘That creature that its blood can eat through three floors of a spaceship, you’re gonna have no chance.’ And the drool. It was such an elegant and stylish piece of work, you know what I mean? It didn’t have a schlock quality to it.”

Lithgow added, “For my part, I just loved horror films that all emanated from the horror of character. To me, the great horror films are things like Rosemary’s Baby and Misery, you know, just great acting performances where the terror comes just from exactly how some deranged people behave. I guess the first impact I ever had with horror was with the great Australian filmmaker George Miller, when I did The Twilight Zone: Terror at 35,000 Feet. I was not the monster in that one, I was reacting to the monster. I was playing the Geoffrey Rush role in that one. That was the first time I was asked to just scare the hell out of people, and I just loved every minute of it.”

Directed by James Ashcroft, who made his feature directorial debut with the 2021 horror thriller Coming Home in the Dark, The Rule of Jenny Pen has the following 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. That sounds like a recipe for a good time to me. Ashcroft also wrote the screenplay with Eli Kent and Owen Marshall.

Catherine Fitzgerald and Orlando Stewart produced the film, with James Ashcroft executive producing alongside Eli Kent, John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Gotto, Nicholas Lazo, and Samuel Zimmerman.

Are you looking forward to The Rule of Jenny Pen? And what do you think of Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow’s horror comments? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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