Released on January 30, 2026, the psychological horror movie Iron Lung made waves upon initial viewings. People went to see it because their favorite YouTuber, Markiplier, created and starred in it. Some people went to see it because they loved the video game it was based off of. Then, there were the people who just went to see it because it seemed interesting. No matter why people went to see it, most walked out of the theater after a pretty darn good movie experience.
Markiplier has been a creator on YouTube for around 14 years, and has taken a significant shift from his usual video game walkthrough content in recent years, which has culminated in the theatrical release of Iron Lung. Based on the 2022 indie video game by David Szymanski, Iron Lung follows a convicted man welded shut into a rusty submarine and forced to take pictures with an X-ray camera, while submerged in an ocean of thick red blood. This sounds exactly as creepy, cool, claustrophobic, and gross as it sounds. The movie is definitely a slow burn, clocking in at around 2 hours and 7 minutes long, but I thought it perfectly used each and every shot to portray a man descending into madness and despair.
Iron Lung was announced on April 21, 2023 with a surprise teaser trailer dropped on Markiplier’s YouTube channel. The immediate buzz was mostly felt by fans of his work and fans of the game. It was only leading up to release and upon release that people outside of his fanbase and indie horror lovers started to notice the movie. But first, some context on why this movie is such a big deal.
Markiplier played the Iron Lung game on his YouTube channel, beating it in one video, as the game is rather short. His love for the game led him to get the blessing and cooperation of the game’s creator to adapt it into film. Markiplier self-financed the whole venture, sinking in around 3 million dollars for the project. The ocean of blood was achieved with the use of 80,000 gallons of fake blood, and it irritated Markiplier’s eyes so much, he was hospitalized by it. A small cast was made up of actress Caroline Rose Kaplan, legendary video game voice actor Troy Baker, and Markiplier’s fellow YouTuber, Jacksepticeye. Markiplier served as director, lead writer, lead actor, producer, financier, distributor, and primary editor of the entire film.
I interviewed a fellow student, Riley Hooper (a sophomore), at Greenwood High school to learn his thoughts on the movie. He told me he thought the team did “a really good job” with the money they had, and that the practical blood helped “make it feel real.” He said that it reminded him of Christopher Nolan’s love for practical effects. When asked about a favorite scene in the film, he stated that the “final submarine flooding scene” and the “blood ocean vision with the monster in the background” were the prime ones that stood out to him.
On opening day, Iron Lung debuted with $18.2 million at the box office, and it briefly dethroned Sam Raimi’s Send Help for number one, a major upset and win for indie films because Send Help had a budget ten times that of Iron Lung’s. Since then, the movie has made nearly 51 million dollars and beat out the high-profile release of the Melania documentary. Though the audience score is larger than the critic score, critics still praise the movie’s cinematography, score, and atmosphere, while also highlighting the relatively good acting performance of Markiplier himself.
Iron Lung was a major leap for indie filmmakers across the globe, showing that you do not need a ton of money to make a good movie. It was definitely a great movie. The only thing left is for you to watch it and decide for yourself.
