Murder in the care home

The Rule of Jenny Pen the second film from New Zealand director James Ashcroft takes a tougher approach.

Save for a brief prologue, it is set entirely in a care home.

Long-term resident Dave Crealy , doddering around in an open dressing-gown, presents himself to staff as addled, mute and benign.

In fact, Crealy is sly, strong and psychotically malevolent.

At night , he roams the place, tormenting the residents.

It belongs rather in the company of Kingsley Amis’s underrated nasty novel Ending Up or even Muriel Spark ’s Memento Mori . Not much of a date movie, perhaps, but fair warning: under the table you must go. “ The Rule of Jenny Pen ” is in cinemas now [See also: In Mickey 17 , Bong Joon-ho misses the moment].