It's a good time to be a fan of scary movies, as the genre has been experiencing a thrilling renaissance for years now. One of the upcoming horror movies arriving shortly in theaters is James Ashcroft' The Rule of Jenny Pen, which stars John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush. And the latter actor spoke to CinemaBlend about the project, and name dropped Alien when helping to describe its setting.
Alien is arguably one of the best horror movies of all time, and many fans of the genre hold it in high regard. And after speaking with Mr. Rush about his performance as Stefan Mortensen in The Rule of Penny Pen, his comments about the James Cameron's rang true. I asked the film and stage legend what it was like playing his character, who was in a rehab center for a stroke and therefore had less control over his body. Rush offered:
I had nothing. I had a chair, a wheelchair. I like the challenge of a task like that. It was a good wheelchair too, because it had five different speeds. So I kind of had a language with the director of pace. Do you want, is this a slow scene, is this a French Connection chase down the corridor? That was quite good fun.
While Rush has to internalize most of his performance in Jenny Pen, it sounds like he appreciated the challenge. Plus, he was able to manipulate his electric wheelchair in a specific way based on each scene.
During our interview, which also included his co-star John Lithgow (who low-key stole the Oscars), Rush spoke about the movie's grim setting. The movie is set in a rehabilitation center, where Lithgow's villainous Dave Crealy is tormenting his fellow residents. It's bleak and oppressive setting, one that Rush equated to Alien aka one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. As he told me:
I think in the genre, it’s what’s inside his brain. You’ve got to trust that there’s a kind of sometimes grandeur to horror films. I think of films like Alien. The landscape in that is deep deep space. It’s like a Rothko painting for the whole film. You’re just there going ‘I feel very low, I feel very dark.'
That's definitely the vibe for The Rule of Jenny Pen. Personally, I wanted to reach into the screen and take care of the various senior citizens that Lithgow was torturing with his titular puppet. CinemaBlend's Rule of Jenny Pen review praised the movie's "nasty" contents and oppressive tone, which was surely aided by its setting.
On paper Alien seems like it couldn't be more different from The Rule of Jenny Pen. But Rush's comments did highlight just how gripping it was to be trapped within one setting for the new horror flick's runtime. Add in the way Dave Crealy was able to freely manipulate those around him, and it felt like no one was safe.
While I didn't originally see it, I thought Rush's comments really captured what the movie did well. Audiences can watch and make this comparison themselves when The Rule of Jenny Pen gets its wide theatrical release March 7th as part of the 2025 movie release list.
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