On March 10, 2022, the game Iron Lung released on Steam to many great reviews. The game focused on a convicted player who was put up for execution, but they were given a chance to avoid that execution by exploring a large sea of blood on an alien moon. Most of the planets and stars have suddenly disappeared in an event known as the silent rapture. The hope is that through this expedition, something that could save humanity from extinction might be found.
A year later, Markiplier, a famous youtuber, announced he was making a movie about the game in collaboration with the game’s creator, David Szymanski. The movie, which was released in January 2026, was a success, earning $20 million worldwide on a $3 million budget.
As a fan of both Markiplier and the game, I knew that I wanted to see the movie on the day of its release, and I can say that I was not disappointed. This film goes to show that indie movies can be just as successful, if not more so, than a movie made by a big studio.
In the past, Markiplier has made a bunch of short, interactive YouTube series such as “In Space with Markiplier” and “A Date with Markiplier.” In these, he showcased his heavy passion for filming and acting, so I had no doubt that “Iron Lung” would be incredible in both aspects.
For people who aren’t familiar with the game, the movie may be very confusing, so I heavily recommend learning more before watching the movie. Summary videos are a great way to learn more about the story if you do not wish to play through the game yourself.
The “Iron Lung” movie follows the same plot as the game and expands upon it, taking more of an eldritch horror approach. The movie focuses on Simon, played by Markiplier, as he tries to navigate through the blood sea in order to be granted freedom from his execution. As the movie goes on, we learn of how he became a convict on death row as well as witness his downward spiral into madness as he is followed by a strange creature in the blood sea.
The movie is a slow burn, relying more on things slowly getting worse until we are face-to-face with the horrifying creature within the blood sea. While I never really screamed during the movie, it definitely made me feel unsettled throughout, especially towards the end.
For most of the movie, it takes place within the Iron Lung submarine, very rarely showing the outside. Despite this, its environment and story always managed to keep me at the edge of my seat, wondering what exactly was going on and if Simon was ever going to actually leave the submarine and escape death.
Besides the storytelling and acting, one of my favorite parts of the movie has to be the unique lighting they use midway through. In the submarine, there is a camera that flashes a burst of light into the submarine. When the submarine was extremely dark, Simon would use it to see.
The scenes where that camera was the only source of light felt intense and, to me, was an amazing use of lighting. It helped to capture that feeling of isolation that is so prevalent within the game. Tricks like these help make every scene feel so unique despite it all occurring within a single room for the two-hour duration of the film.
“Iron Lung” shows how much can be accomplished even with a smaller budget. This is probably my favorite horror movie I have seen in a long while, and I can’t wait to see what future projects Markiplier has in store. I’m looking forward to when this movie inevitably comes to streaming as I will definitely be rewatching it so I can analyze every scene.