James Ashcroft’s debut Coming Home in The Dark (2021) is one of our bleakest contemporary thrillers and his sophomore feature The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025) is equally as dark. When it isn’t lingering in the frailty of the elderly or the sad reality of those same people being abandoned by their loved ones, it’s chock full of psychological & physical abuse at the hands of genuine madman. But don’t let that scare you away! The Rule of Jenny Pen is a brilliantly deranged slice of cinema with one hell of a scumbag for a villain.

Ashcroft and his writing partner have a real knack for bringing author Owen Marshall’s deliciously sadistic antagonists to life (Marshall being the original writer of the short stories which Ashcroft’s two features are based). John Lithgow, no slouch in the pantheon of evil bastards delivers a wickedly wacky performance as a retirement home predator,...