Iron Lung (2026) 🩸🌊

A blood-soaked endurance test that I’m glad I survived… once.

Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

⚠️ Content Warning

Iron Lung contains intense psychological horror, claustrophobic environments, disturbing imagery, themes of isolation and hopelessness, implied body horror, and sudden moments of shock that may be unsettling for some players. The game leans heavily into cosmic dread and the fear of the unknown, creating a persistently oppressive atmosphere from start to finish. Oh and thr film of course as well, both are gory and full of dread.

Before Markiplier’s Iron Lung even played, there was a trailer for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, and I need to talk about the funniest theater reaction I’ve ever witnessed.

We see this sarcophagus being lifted up, someone takes a picture, the words “from the creator of Weapons” pop up, and the person behind us just goes:

> “Oh shit I don’t want to go see this.”



Then the trailer keeps playing, creepy imagery everywhere, the words what happened to Katie show up and the same person goes:

> “Uhh idk what happened.”



Then they proceed to say:

> “I think she dead.”



Final shot — Katie’s corpse opens her eyes.

> “Oh never mind, she’s not dead.”



🤣🤣🤣

Perfect tone-setter before sitting through what I can only describe as an endurance test.

Now in case some of y’all don’t know who markiplier is or never heard of him, well heres a bit of info. Markiplier is a famous gamer youtuber who made the game FNAF popular because he played through the whole game, its also thanks to hik the game Amnesia The Dark Descent became so popular, if anyone wants to check his channel out. Here’s his channel link.

https://youtube.com/@markiplier?si=NGLDhtkCTF0poNjN

Hope y’all check his channel our and find some enjoyment, anyways moving onto giving context tk this game.

If anyone is curious about the game in case some y’all haven’t heard of the game (yes this is a game adaptation) well heres the games plot.

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💀 Plot Rundown — Iron Lung

Set in a universe where every star and habitable planet has mysteriously vanished, humanity survives on scattered space stations with resources running out. After discovering a moon covered in a massive ocean of blood, the government sends a prisoner — you — on a last-ditch expedition inside a tiny submarine called the Iron Lung, promising freedom if the mission succeeds.

Navigating the pitch-black blood ocean using only instruments and a camera, you photograph strange underwater structures that suggest something enormous is lurking below. The deeper you go, the more the submarine groans under pressure, and it becomes clear you are not alone.

After completing the mission, just as escape seems possible, a gigantic unseen creature suddenly crushes the submarine — revealing the expedition was likely a suicide mission all along.

No rescue.
No freedom.
Just the void.

Now what is the films plot?


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🧭 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

After “The Quiet Rapture” vanishes all stars and planets, Simon must pilot a rusty submarine through a moon’s ocean of blood, encountering monsters and cosmic horror in what is basically a suicide mission.

To be fair, the game’s plot was barely existent anyway — more vibes than story — so the movie had to expand things.

There’s actually a cast here. We follow Markiplier, who plays Simon. In the game we don’t even learn the character’s name, we never see him, and we never hear him. In the movie we get to see him, hear him… and hear him complain.

There’s a military presence, a female leader, multiple voices on the comms, and the world feels bigger than just one submarine.

One major change I liked? The government isn’t portrayed as completely heartless. The female commander promises Simon freedom multiple times and even says he doesn’t deserve to die — though everyone else clearly still doesn’t give a s***.


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🎭 Character Rundown

Simon (Mark Fischbach / Markiplier) — A convict sent down as penance for his crime. He was part of some radical movement that accidentally blew up what qualifies as a “town” in this apocalyptic future, and his friends abandoned him and let him take the fall.

Simon spends a lot of this movie in “I don’t give a f***” mode, which actually adds a surprising amount of humor.

Speaking of cast — I cannot believe Markiplier got Troy Baker in this film. Absolute insane pull.

Also wild fact: Markiplier fully funded this movie himself. Made it. Starred in it. Produced it. Dropped $3 million of his own money.

Respect where respect is due.


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⏱️ Pacing / Episode Flow

No universe did this movie need to be 2 hours and 7 minutes long.

By the last 30 minutes I was legit saying:

> “Can we please wrap this up?”



The base game is about 45 minutes, so don’t ask why this got stretched that long.

At times it feels like we are literally just watching the game:

pushing levers

figuring out directions

marking paths on paper like a human compass

taking pictures

moving the submarine location to location


It meanders.

This is not a typical horror movie. There’s creepy imagery, yes — but this film is an endurance test. I’ve even read people walked out because they were bored, and honestly… I get it.


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✅ Pros

Atmosphere is strong. Claustrophobic, lonely, oppressive.

Some genuinely creepy visuals:

The SM8 torn down the middle like something exploded from the inside.

The angler-fish-like demon appearing in some photos but not others.

Skeleton remains that disappear when Simon returns to the same location.


That last one is deeply unnerving.

Smart horror concept: The creature may be manifesting voices to lure Simon — literally angler fish behavior. That is horrifying.

Dark humor works surprisingly well.

Favorite scene:

Simon tries accessing a computer without the password.

> Simon: (types) hello?
Computer: unauthorized access, step away now or get arrested
Simon: (types) gain access
Computer: unauthorized access, step away now or get arrested
Simon: (types) f*** you
Computer: unauthorized access, step away now or get arrested



Bureaucracy surviving the apocalypse is hilarious.

Also theres scenes of markiplier being tossed around the submarine, that might come off campy because it looks like a stage set that been placed on a thing to cause it to shake, but granted I grew up with star trek so I thrive on campy.

Thr irony doesn’t escape me, the fact that we see markiplier sitting in a chair in this film, after we seen him sit and play this game.

We saw him sitting down to play this game, ans now in the film he’s sitting and living it!

Biblical undertones are heavy. Eden is referenced, trees are planted, rapture language shows up — once I learned the game creator is Christian, that made way more sense.

The blood lookes extremely realistic, very thick and red.


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❌ Cons

Again.

Way too long. Needed to have been trimmed down to like a hour and a half at most.

The tension eventually turns into fatigue.

Also — this movie is NOT for everyone.

It demands patience and doesn’t always reward it proportionally.

Rewatch value? Basically nonexistent for me.

Some the dialog comes off kinda campy, a bit too much on the over explaining side of things.

One thing I think really hurts this movie is that it becomes too faithful to the game. Now normally I’d never complain about accuracy in a video game adaptation, but this might honestly be the first time I’ve ever said being too accurate actually hurts the movie.

The game only lasts around 45 to 60 minutes. It’s built around you sitting in that submarine, plotting coordinates, writing on the map, moving the sub, stopping, taking pictures, then repeating the process. The reason that works is because you’re the one doing it. You’re the one making the decisions. You’re the one trying to figure out where to go next.

The movie, on the other hand, asks you to sit there and watch Markiplier do all of that for what feels like half an hour.

He’s writing mathematics on the map.

Moving the joystick.

Driving to another location.

Taking another picture.

Then doing the exact same thing again.

And again.

And again.

At a certain point I was looking at my watch thinking, “Guys… I get it.”

I understand that Simon’s job is repetitive. I understand he’s exhausted. But there’s a difference between making the audience understand a character’s exhaustion and making the audience exhausted because they’re watching someone perform the same routine over and over.

Honestly, this whole section could’ve been condensed into a quick montage. Show him plotting routes. Show dozens of photographs piling up. Show his notebook filling with calculations. Show him becoming more tired and mentally worn down. We would’ve understood exactly what the movie was trying to say in two or three minutes instead of spending roughly thirty.

The best description I’ve heard of this movie is that it sometimes feels like you’re just watching someone else play a video game.

Now don’t get me wrong, that can absolutely be entertaining. Watching a Twitch streamer or YouTuber play a game can be a blast because you’re there for their reactions, their personality, their jokes, and the unexpected moments that happen along the way.

But this movie is trying to be a serious psychological horror film.

Take away the jokes, the commentary, the face cam, and the interaction, and what you’re left with is just… gameplay.

It’s almost like watching a Twitch stream with the volume muted and the webcam turned off. Eventually you’re just staring at someone moving from point A to point B, and that’s nowhere near as compelling as actually playing the game yourself.

That’s really my biggest issue with the pacing. It isn’t just slow. It stretches a premise that was already incredibly minimalist. The game’s story is intentionally thin because the gameplay carries the experience. Once you remove that interaction, you either need to dramatically expand the story or keep the movie much shorter.

Instead, the film stretches a 45-to-60-minute concept into a 2-hour-and-7-minute movie, and unfortunately you can really feel every extra minute.

It’s very much just this summarized up.

For the next thirty minutes, the main character sits down, pulls out a paper map, spends time calculating coordinates, writes them down, moves the submarine with a joystick, reaches the destination, gets up, takes a picture, sits back down… and then repeats that same process several more times before finally getting a jump scare.”

What you read is what you get.


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💭 Final Thoughts

This movie isn’t gonna be for everyone, it’s definitely an endurance test, thought you should know that before going in.

Also I wouldn’t call this movie a horror movie, more of a thriller, thought id get that out there.

But I have more respect here for markiplier then I ever will for Chris Stuckmann, so take that as you will. No ill not be reviewing Shelby Oaks, get off my back about it.

Also, I genuinely wish Markiplier the best if he continues directing movies because there’s real talent here. The atmosphere is great, the practical effects work, and you can tell he cares about the source material. But I really hope he learns from this one. Not every game needs to become a two-hour movie.
Iron Lung is a game you can finish in about 45 to 60 minutes. That’s part of its appeal. It’s short, focused, and never overstays its welcome. Stretching that concept into a 2-hour-and-7-minute film was, in my opinion, the biggest mistake the movie made.
Sometimes less really is more. I honestly think this movie would’ve been much stronger at around 80 to 90 minutes. Trim down the repetitive navigation, tighten the pacing, and keep the strongest horror moments. You’d still get the same oppressive atmosphere without asking the audience to sit through long stretches of repeated gameplay.
I respect the ambition, and I absolutely respect Markiplier for funding and making this movie himself. I just hope that if he directs another film, he remembers that being faithful to a game doesn’t always mean recreating every gameplay mechanic. Movies and games tell stories differently, and sometimes the best adaptation is the one that knows what to leave behind.


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⭐ Rating

7.9/10

Is it my cup of tea? No.
Was it fun? Yes.
Will I ever watch it again? Eh probably not.

And yet… I’m glad I experienced it once. I did walk out the theaatre satisfied.


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⚠️ Spoiler Warning

Major spoilers were discussed above — proceed carefully if you haven’t seen the film.


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🩸 Spoilers

So here’s where the film goes completely off the rails — in a good, horrifying way.

After being lured by what he believes is another survivor on the comms, Simon follows the coordinates only to discover the creature waiting for him. At this point the movie heavily implies that the voice may have been a hallucination… or worse, the creature itself mimicking human speech to draw him in like an angler fish using bait. Either way, the one thing keeping Simon sane — the idea that he wasn’t alone — gets weaponized against him.

From here, reality starts breaking down inside the submarine.

We begin seeing physical deterioration everywhere. Boils appear on the interior of the sub. Blood starts oozing through cracks and crevices. Vines are somehow growing inside the metal walls. It’s never fully explained whether this is psychological, environmental, or something cosmic — but it feels like the submarine itself is becoming a living, infected organism.

Then Simon realizes the horror isn’t just around him.

It’s happening to him.

He unwraps the bandages on his arms and finds boils forming on his own skin. Considering the entire moon is covered in a boiling ocean of human blood and the submarine has been getting hotter and hotter throughout the film, it almost feels metaphorical — like the environment is invading his body.

Just when things couldn’t get worse, the commander contacts him again and admits the truth: the crew has new orders to ignore him and leave him to die. She tells him it isn’t fair… but it doesn’t change anything. However, she begs him to retrieve the black box from the SM8 because the information on it is bigger than all of them.

Simon doesn’t want to do it — he wants to live — but at this point survival already feels impossible.

So he goes.

To reach the circuit floor where the black box is located, Simon has to descend into an area that has completely flooded with blood due to the submarine leaking. He literally swims through it, grabs the black box, and barely makes it back before drowning.

Then comes one of the most quietly devastating choices in the film.

Instead of securing the life vest for himself, Simon straps it tightly to the black box, attaching the light so it can be found later.

Not him.

The box.

The mission matters more than his life.

As he climbs back up, his hand slams into a pipe and gets stuck. When he tries to free it, his other hand becomes trapped on the opposite side, leaving him suspended in the air in a crucified position — very heavy imagery that fits right in with the film’s biblical undertones.

He manages to rip one arm free, but the other is tangled in vines. In a moment of pure desperation, he pulls until his arm tears off completely.

Now bleeding, deteriorating, and running out of time, Simon watches as the submarine begins to fail entirely. Blood pours in from every direction. The pressure builds.

He knows he isn’t getting out.

His final words:

> “I hope this is damn worth it… it’s bigger than any of us.”



Moments later, the giant angler-like creature bites the submarine in half, causing it to implode instantly.

No dramatic escape. No rescue. No miracle.

Just sacrifice.

The film then cuts to the black box floating above the blood ocean. A searchlight passes over it, implying that someone — somewhere — might recover it.

A small glimmer of hope.

Not for Simon.

But maybe for whatever future is left.


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Box Office & Wild Production Facts

Opening weekend: $21 million

Budget: $3 million

Fully funded by Markiplier himself.


Even crazier — this wasn’t backed by a major studio. Mark negotiated with theaters, and his fans pushed to get the film shown widely.

Love it or struggle through it, that is seriously impressive.


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Bottom line:

This isn’t a movie you casually throw on.

It’s one you survive.

And sometimes… that’s enough.

Or it’s a movie you walk out of because of bordem, which understandable, anyways hope y’all enjoy today’s review.