John Lithgow Just Gave Us The Best Horror Performance of 2025 (So Far)

If you’re excited to see John Lithgow as Dumbledore in HBO’s Harry Potter series, do yourself a favor—watch him unleash pure terror in The Rule of Jenny Pen first.

Aging is already scary. Losing control of your body, your mind—it’s a horror we all face. But Shudder’s latest film adds a new nightmare to the mix: the wrong housemate in the wrong senior home.

Geoffrey Rush stars as Judge Stefan Mortenson, a once-powerful man now recovering from a stroke at Royal Pine Mews. There, he meets Dave Crealy (Lithgow), an unsettling presence who slowly reveals himself as a sadistic menace. As Crealy’s cruelty escalates from psychological torment to outright violence, Mortenson must fight to stop him—before his own mind betrays him.

With its unique premise and chilling antagonist, The Rule of Jenny Pen is another win for Shudder’s originals. But Lithgow’s performance makes it unmissable. He plays Crealy with a perfect blend of charm, menace, and unsettling unpredictability—utterly believable as the harmless, senile resident the staff sees, and the confident, sinister villain the residents fear. His portrayal works on two levels—making you fear both encountering a man like Crealy, and that, at a certain age, you may become a Crealy yourself.

Meet the scariest horror villain of 2025 by streaming The Rule of Jenny Pen on Shudder.