31.1.2026 ~ Iron Lung Review [Spoiler-Free]
**The following is copy-pasted from a post on YouTube. You can view it here ~ http://youtube.com/post/Ugkxp0qm7zBmFJYj_CXPeXT4936TR7xnxczx
31.1.2026 ~ I watched @markiplier’s Iron Lung last night!🩸☠️
First off, a funny anecdote that accidentally enhanced the experience for me: the cinema we went to experienced a power surge about 2 minutes into the movie which we thought was part of it, until it had been 30+ seconds of silence and darkness and a staff member came in to let us know they were fixing the issue. We waited about 10 minutes, and then they had to skip through the ads and restart the movie 😂
In all seriousness, even though I don’t particularly love sci-fi and Iron Lung the game didn’t engage me as much as it did other people, I really wanted to support this film. Not only because Markiplier was one of my biggest inspirations for starting this channel, but also because I have endless respect for indie projects as well as practical effects (especially with corporatism and gen-AI threatening to smother out these things). Without giving any story spoilers, I was quite impressed with the quality of this movie.
In such a limited setting - a dark, claustrophobic sub with only one in-person character and sometimes one or two other voices heard via speaker - it was crucial for the vocal performances to deliver. Once my brain overcame the culture shock of seeing this guy I’ve watched on YouTube since 2014 act in a feature-length movie, I enjoyed Mark’s performance quite a bit. While it did feel like he was acting “as himself” at times (mainly in the moments of comic relief and narrative self-awareness), the many more harrowing moments of fear, dread, desperation, rage and resignation which he showcased made up for it. I also have to give kudos to Caroline Rose Kaplan for her chilling vocal delivery, conveying so much complexity about a character we almost never see.
I don’t think this movie would’ve been nearly as immersive if the setting had been digitally-created in post production. From the rusty, shaking walls to the harsh glowing buttons and screens to the inexplicable liquids dripping down the interior of the sub, it draws the audience into this experience, allowing them to better empathise with this trapped character and his struggle to survive. The realism also offers plenty of visual details to notice on consecutive viewings. Rewatchability is such an underrated quality in the entertainment industry these days, so I’m always happy to see a story that puts effort into encouraging the audience to revisit the experience with new contexts and knowledge.
Furthermore, I enjoyed watching Mark use the practical setting to his advantage. Not a single area or item on the sub is wasted; the entire space is used deliberately and intuitively, with Mark making his character interact with these tangible elements to adapt to his situation in order to fulfill his mission. I also appreciated how Mark took Iron Lung’s lore and adapted it to suit the medium, explaining how the sub’s mechanics work and also the sociopolitical background of the story without taking away from the mystery that makes this world so appealing to fans of the game. Without that groundedness, a version of this movie that more heavily relied on CGI (or worse, gen-AI) would’ve felt far less gritty and compelling.
My only nitpicks are that the audio mixing was a bit unbalanced sometimes (ie dialogue was too quiet while the score/sounds were too loud), and some scenes were too dark to see important elements like facial expressions and plot-relevant props. This first 1/3 - 1/2 is a bit slow and repetitive, but I think that compliments the premise of this story - a monotonous mission that is gradually derailed by an insidious twist. Ultimately, for such a small indie production, these are trivial mistakes that don’t detract from the overall heart and quality found all over this film.
This is NOT your average Hollywood blockbuster, it is a slow-burn psychological horror film, so don’t go in expecting epic action sequences every 5-10 minutes. This is a film you have to immerse yourself in and pay close attention to every detail to understand what’s going on, and I love that. We need this sort of experimental, thought-provoking art made by passionate creatives to make a comeback in mainstream entertainment. I’d give it an 8/10, and if you resonated with anything I’ve said in this review, I recommend checking it out and supporting more indie projects like this in the future! 💚