Stephen King Calls This the Best Horror Movie of the 21st Century: “I Urge You to Watch It”

Stephen King, the famous author who knows more about horror than most people ever will, recommended a film that barely anyone has seen. Despite his own failed attempt at directing with the widely mocked Maximum Overdrive, King still knows exactly what makes a great horror story.

And when he speaks, horror fans tend to listen. Not long ago, he called The Rule of Jenny Pen “one of the best movies I’ve seen this year” and said, “I urge you to watch it when it appears on Shudder.”

I watched one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It’s called THE RULE OF JENNY PEN, and I urge you to watch it when it appears on Shudder. Geoffrey Rush stars, with John Lithgow as a geriatric psychopath with an evil hand puppet.

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Released in 2025, The Rule of Jenny Pen is a small psychological horror film from New Zealand. Directed by James Ashcroft and based on a short story by Owen Marshall, it stars John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush, two actors who rarely take on horror roles. Despite its cast, the movie wasn’t a big hit in theaters, and most people only discovered it when it arrived on the horror streaming service Shudder in March 2025.

The story focuses on Stefan Mortensen, played by Geoffrey Rush. He’s a grumpy old judge who moves into a care home after suffering a stroke. There, he ends up sharing a room with Tony Garfield, a former rugby player who isn’t thrilled about the situation either. Things take a strange and dark turn when they meet Dave Crealy, played by John Lithgow.

Crealy pretends to be just another confused old man, but at night he terrorizes the other residents using a creepy hand puppet called Jenny Pen.

It’s not just the disturbing story that got Stephen King’s attention. The performances, especially from Lithgow, impressed many critics.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, around 71 percent of reviews were positive. The website’s summary said that “John Lithgow’s frighteningly unhinged performance reigns over The Rule of Jenny Pen, a nasty chiller that’s by turns monotonous and haunting.” Metacritic gave it a score of 66 out of 100, which means most critics liked it.

Reviewers called it “an instant horror classic.” The Guardian described it as “a bracingly malicious tale of elder abuse.” The movie won some awards too. Ashcroft picked up best director at Fantastic Fest in Texas, while Lithgow and Rush shared the best actor award at Spain’s Sitges Film Festival.

King’s love for The Rule of Jenny Pen is clear. What makes this recommendation even more impressive is that he compared it to movies that aren’t even horror, like Oppenheimer, The Departed, and No Country for Old Men. For a small, low-budget horror film to be put alongside big Hollywood productions by one of the masters of horror himself says a lot.

If you’re looking for a creepy, unsettling movie that’s probably unlike any horror film you’ve seen lately, Stephen King suggests you watch The Rule of Jenny Pen. And when Stephen King recommends a horror movie, it’s usually worth paying attention.

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