“Iron Lung,” an indie-horror movie recently released in theaters consisting of only one set, a record breaking amount of blood and a budget under $3 million according to Forbes, has been competing for #1 selling movie of the weekend against Sam Raimi’s “Send Help.” So what makes this movie so special?
The first thing that hits is the fact that it was directed, produced, financed, edited and starred in by Mark Fischbach, more commonly known as Markiplier, one of the current most popular gaming YouTubers according to Social Blade and the self-proclaimed “King of Five Nights at Freddy’s.” Despite settling around 38.2 subscribers built up from years of gameplay, he hasn’t only made YouTube videos in his past.
While these short films are on YouTube and are a lot more “interactive” than movies, there are his “Adventures With Markiplier” videos, consisting of scenarios where you are the main character interacting with Markiplier in some form, whether you’re on “A Date With Markiplier,” or my personal favorite, “In Space With Markiplier,” you get to choose your every move by clicking from video to video. However, these films have a great amount of detail, creativity and thought into the plot of everything that can go right and wrong with every option you decide to click on.
Besides the storytelling, the sets for these are well-detailed as well. At least for “In Space With Markiplier,” where you’re in a wormhole and getting transported to a bunch of different dimensions, you start off at a space station. Instead of it being a bunch of rooms with green screens, there are actual physical sets that make you feel like you’re on a ship.
He also acted in a show called “The Edge of Sleep” a little over a year ago, which really presented his acting skills in a more professional light, but that’s not what we’re here for. “Iron Lung” is what Markiplier’s love and passion have gone into for the past few years. The film is based on the video game “Iron Lung” created by David Szymanski in 2022. It’s a horror game where you play as a convict put in a submarine to explore, map and photograph objects in a blood ocean on the planet you are stuck on. The world the game creates is one where a large chunk of humanity disappeared after something called “The Quiet Rapture,” and the remaining people have been scattered around the galaxy with scarce resources.
Markiplier played this game for his channel and revealed he was making it into a film in April of 2023. He also posted an official trailer for the film about two years ago as he was going into post-production.
As with all video game movies, there is a very thin line between amazing and horrible. When there are games that everybody loves, there is a community you must respect when making a film adaptation, but making a carbon copy of the game into a film is just as bad as completely drawing away from the concept of the game itself. There needs to be an added aspect or something that can freshen up a film to the point where it can be something new while still being very closely attached to the original game. I believe “Iron Lung” is just that.
There is only one set for this film: A small, janky submarine known as the SM-13 with buttons and cranks to steer the ship with and with absolutely no way to see what’s going on outside, other than a radioactive imaging camera that allows Markiplier to see what’s in front of him for around 10 seconds at a time. This two-hour and seven-minute movie completely takes place within this set, as does the game. There are not even a handful of shots that show outside of the sub, and that’s at the beginning, end and when the fish inevitably blows up his sub.
The game is paced in the same way, which makes me respect that they tried to stick so close to the original game, but this comes at a cost. While intentional, there are parts where we’re just watching Markiplier use knobs and click buttons, creating a slow and unengaging experience for some. Considering I have experienced the gameplay, I felt this too, but then I remembered what was to come and it built up the suspense for the inevitability of things turning south.
The set is completely physical and awesome, if I do say so myself. When the movie first started, I remember smiling after seeing the inside of the sub. I couldn’t really explain this excitement to my friends, considering they hadn’t played the game or seen any gameplay of it, but I could say it’s a carbon copy. The color of the buttons, the steering mechanics to the pictures Markiplier takes after clicking a comedically large rectangle button on the back wall of the ship, is so perfect in comparison to the game.
Along with this, the set is on these mechanical arms so they can move the sub around to make the inside feel more real during certain parts, mostly for the more intense moments when the fish hits the ship or when he is dropped into the ocean for the second time, which is amazing. There is no clear amount for the budget of the film, but it was something under $3 million dollars and completely financed by Markiplier.
To summarize the plot, Markiplier plays the main protagonist, Simon, a convict who is promised that if he gets these photos, then he will be set free. During his mission, he notices the leaks of blood dripping into the submarine, the condensation from the strangely rising heat, the limited amount of oxygen he has and the giant fish that wants to kill him.
Being in one set for two hours is an obvious challenge. Making a story out of a game that can be classified as short in comparison to others is also a challenge in itself, but that set is a restriction. Nevertheless, this is something that was embraced throughout the whole film. You really get a feel for the space as a whole and understand how things work just as easily as Simon does. Does that mean this movie was always super fast and action-packed? Heck no! There are obviously some slower parts, but going back to my point earlier, this had to be intentional to stay true to the slow-building game. If you’re in a submarine for who knows how long, wouldn’t things feel slow for you, too?
The writing – also done by Markiplier – fits the subtle intensity the movie possesses. Half of it is him talking to himself while steering the sub and questioning all of its obvious problems, and the other half is him arguing and yelling at whoever’s talking through the speaker in the sub. While there is a much bigger plot within the game and within the movie, which is really good, I felt as if the explanation fell short within the film.
There were mentions of something called “The Last Tree” and of what Simon did to end up being a convict – blowing up a place called Filament Station, but I didn’t understand a lot of it or why he was the one convicted when he had “brothers.” I don’t know if it was because of the lack of context or because whoever was explaining was talking too fast or grumbling in a way that was incomprehensible, but I was missing some chunks of the background even as more started to be revealed. But even without this, you get a really good sense of the “now” within the film with Markiplier’s conveyance of emotions.
His acting is an art in itself, but what I appreciated was his commitment to the character. One point I really saw such commitment was near the end of the film when the submarine starts to flood with blood after sustaining damage from the giant fish trying to chomp him down. Knowing he won’t make it out alive, Simon goes down into the tight, crawling space underneath the floor where his data box is to save it for the people on the surface. At this point, the blood has almost completely filled the space, but he crawls in anyway. By the time he gets back up, he is fully submerged in the blood and remains covered in it as he scrambles to get the device attached to the comedically provided life vest inside the sub to save the data. The sub also continues to flood with blood as he tries fighting off the fish, which he becomes submerged in very quickly.
This is when the intensity goes haywire with all that blood that’s been mentioned and with some gore and makeup effects I thought were spot on. It throws you a little off kilter after getting so used to the slow embrace of insanity and dread the film provides, but this is the action that the audience has been waiting for. The blood in question was not sparing; the film used 80,000 gallons of it. This is another feat of such a small movie because it beat the record for the most amount of blood used in a horror film by beating “Evil Dead” with its record of 50,000 gallons.
With all this in mind, it is a feat of a movie, even with some of the slower parts, but what makes this all the more impressive is how it was completely independent from any film studio. The part that made me most excited was how widespread it became. According to Markiplier in one of his videos, he said that it was originally supposed to play in about 50 independent theaters, but it quickly spread to 4,105, according to ironlung.com. The movie was picked up by chains as well, such as AMC and Regal.
Along with this, Markiplier also set up blood drives around certain theaters to fit along with the theme of the blood ocean in the film. A handful of theaters in the central and western parts of America are participating in the hopes of helping with the blood shortage, according to Dexerto, but also to try and break the record for most blood donations in a day. This is something I can’t begin to describe how amazing it is and what help he is providing through these blood drives. Even with all of this being about him, he still found a way to give back to others in a time when so many of us need it.
Now, it may make sense for a person to assume I love this movie purely because it’s Markiplier’s. I admit I have been a fan of his channel for many years, but saying I love this movie because I love Markiplier is like saying the new “War of the Worlds” movie was great because I’m a big fan of Ice Cube (this is not implying “Iron Lung” is of the same quality – it is way better, I promise).
This movie would be just as amazing if it had any other actor in it, besides Jared Leto. The fact that Markiplier was the writer, director, editor, financier, main protagonist and executive producer makes it even more awesome, and this movie is the perfect representation of what hard work looks like, considering that it made $21.7 million in its first weekend according to Forbes, coming second in the weekend’s Box Office charts after holding the first place spot in America Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday according to Markiplier’s “Iron Lung Weekend Results” video he posted on Feb. 3. Because of the numbers, a vast amount of theaters have extended their showtimes of the movie for another weekend, so maybe the movie will come out on top in the upcoming week. Still, the success of this movie is incredible in itself, considering how small it was originally supposed to be. Everyone knows what they say about being second in comparison to being first, anyway.
Does it have its flaws? Heck yes, as does every movie to have ever been made. Everything that has ever been made is going to receive almost as much hate and detest as it does love. Looking at the bigger picture, it’s a slow movie about a mysterious convict in a blood ocean being hunted by a giant fish. But when you take a look at the small things, when you grab that magnifying glass and start looking at the finer details, you’ll finally see a hidden gem filled with questionable morals, amazing cinematography and lots and lots of dedication and passion. As Markiplier’s directorial debut, this was a major breakthrough, not only for him but for indie filmmaking as a whole.
Any indie or horror movie fan should see this movie purely because of how much of a feat it truly is, and every filmmaker should aspire to reach the levels of this movie because of how inspiring it is for all of us small people trying to make our mark in this world.
Hayley Doda can be contacted at
hayley@kscequinox.com
