The original Iron Lung game came out back in 2022.  Created by one man, David Szymanski, it was praised for being a simple, but effective, horror game that relied on its atmosphere rather than jumpscares.  Not long later, popular Youtuber Markiplier began working on a film adaptation of the movie, which finally came to theaters at the end of January of 2026.  Markiplier is no stranger to acting in larger projects, as he had already created several interactive films on Youtube in the form of A Heist with Markiplier (2019) and In Space with Markiplier (2022).  I enjoyed both of those, but considering they were both meant to be comedic, I was quite curious to see how he would fare in a more serious role.

For those unfamiliar, the world of Iron Lung takes place in a hopeless future where all planets and stars have mysteriously vanished in an event known as the Quiet Rapture.  All that’s left of humanity are a few space stations, along with some inhospitable moons.  And desperate times call for desperate measures.  When a moon is discovered with an ocean of blood, convicts are sent down to investigate the ocean’s depths in a cramped, rusty submarine called the Iron Lung.  During the events of the game, you are one such convict, and you are tasked with navigating to various spots marked on your map to take grainy, low quality photos of what you find.  And it’s possible you are not alone… (Game review here.)

Mark plays as a convict named Simon who, just like in the game, is sent down in the Iron Lung to take photos of several points of interest within the blood ocean.  (I’ll be honest, the moment I first saw Mark’s face made me smile.  Although I’ve never met the guy, after watching him for years on Youtube, I can’t help but feel I know him, y’know?)  To my surprise, he’s even brought back to the surface early on, but he’s never allowed to actually leave the sub.  (This is when we learn that the camera is actually an x-ray because you can’t see through blood otherwise, which I thought was a cool detail.)  Soon enough, he’s sent right back down again to investigate further into a strange skeleton he had photographed.

Let’s take a brief break to mention the fact that the movie is rated R for language and, as expected, a buttload of blood (and a bit of gruesome body horror towards the end).  Being familiar with Markiplier’s potty mouth, we watched the movie with a language filter on and subtitles, which were quite handy, but more on that later.  The entire movie takes place inside the Iron Lung, creating a claustrophobic environment that fits perfectly with the game.  The set looked great, and Mark’s acting was quite good, as well.  Seeing as he’s normally more acquainted with comedy, I was very impressed by his acting in this movie, and I felt he nailed Simon’s more emotional moments quite well, too. 

To keep things interesting for those already familiar with the original game, Mark’s take on the story differs a bit from the original source material in several good ways.  For one thing, while Simon spends all of his time alone in his little sub, he is sometimes able to interact with other people through a radio.  Usually, he’s talking to the woman who’s in charge of sending him into the ocean, but later on, he encounters…someone else, as well.  And while the movie’s opening follows the game quite closely, it’s not long after Simon is sent back into the ocean that things start to take a strange turn.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that Simon has some disturbing visions, and a cause for the Quiet Rapture is hinted at, which is super interesting.

Like the game it’s based on, this movie is most certainly a slow burn, at just over 2 hours.  (The game itself is roughly 45 minutes to an hour).  I tend to enjoy these kinds of things if, and only if, it’s done well, and I think it was.  The rather uneventful opening before he’s brought to the surface wasn’t too long, though there is a pretty slow scene later on where Simon is trying to use the camera to light up the dim interior of his submarine to do…something.  On the most part, though, I didn’t have a problem with the pacing, and I never really found myself bored with the movie.  Frankly, despite some slower scenes, there were plenty of exciting parts, as well, and the ending in particular got my heart pounding (which doesn’t normally happen when I watch movies).

One of this movie’s strengths is the way it rewards viewers who pay attention.  The storytelling favors show, don’t tell, and most of the time, I could eventually piece together details that I may not have understood earlier.  My biggest problem, unfortunately, stemmed from the fact that some details were far too easy to miss.  Other reviewers all seem to think that dialogue in this movie could be difficult to hear, and I totally agree.  That’s why subtitles are an absolute must, or else we would have missed a lot of the dialogue!

And while a second viewing might reveal details I didn’t notice the first time, there are some things I don’t think I ever would have noticed if someone hadn’t outright explained it on Youtube (how they knew what was happening, I know not).  The ending is the worst offender here.  I won’t spoil anything (I promise!), but one of the last shots is basically just shades of red, and it’s so hard to make out what’s happening.  Something else important happened around here that I totally missed altogether concerning another character.  And I do wish we had gotten more explanation for Simon’s nickname, which I don’t feel was thoroughly explored by the end.  Oh, and I may as well tell you now, that little round trinket that Simon finds, it contains a small tree sapling.  That will be important later, but I’ve read comments from many people who couldn’t make out what it was (I certainly had no clue).  The guesses were comically all over the place.

Nevertheless, I think Iron Lung was really good.  And I don’t mean it was good for a movie made by a smaller team on a smaller budget or it was good for Mark’s first attempt.  I mean I thought it was legitimately good…certainly better than most movies nowadays, despite its flaws.  The acting was well done, the effects were good, the story was compelling, especially considering the singular location and slow pacing.  You could tell Mark was passionate about this project, and I wish him all the best in the future.  I’m genuinely happy his first theatrical film was such an overwhelming success (on a budget of $3 million, the movie made $18 million in its opening weekend alone and $50 million in total).  The movie recently became available for streaming on Youtube for $10 to buy and $5 to rent, which is a great price.  Mark had said in a recent Youtube video that he wanted to make the movie affordable to his fans.  It’s good to see he appreciates his fans as much as we appreciate him.  After the success of Iron Lung, I look forward to seeing what Mark’s next big thing is going to be.

Banner image is the official movie poster, found on IMDB