I knew only a couple of things going into the Iron Lung movie. First, the movie was directed by Mark Fischbach, AKA Markiplier, which, while interesting, doesn’t mean it’ll be a great movie. He was supposed to star in it, but also basically be the only character, which felt odd. Being based on a game of the same name, I knew I was going into a sci-fi horror flick, and I’m not normally great with those, especially when the movie was supposed to have set a record for how much blood was used. If it were too gory and grotesque, I didn’t know if I would be able to handle it.
I had planned before going in on giving the movie two chances. If it was too much for me to handle, I would walk. I am happy to say, though, I didn’t even consider leaving early after sitting down because I fully enjoyed the Iron Lung movie. I found that Markiplier and his team did an impressive job connecting the movie to the game. Throughout the experience, I felt like I did when I originally played the game, and I think this is what really made the movie shine.
Alone in the Sub
The Iron Lung game is roughly an hour-long experience where, throughout the play time, you’re accosted by this overbearing feeling of dread. The game begins by describing how an event known as the “Quiet Rapture” has caused all life to disappear in the universe except life in space colonies, with planets and stars seeming to vanish completely. In the game, you play as an unnamed prisoner promised freedom if you can recover something helpful and take pictures from the depths of a blood ocean on a desolate moon. The sub creaks and groans, and you get the feeling that you’re not alone, but you should be. The sub has been welded shut, and nothing should be capable of living in an ocean of blood.
When playing the game, your job is simple. You move the sub through the ocean using X and Y coordinates, with only a map and camera to guide you. The map is a simple paper map, meaning you have to plot out both your course and position, while the camera is accessed by pressing a large button at the back of the sub that shows what’s outside. While the player can explore the small space of their sub and find hidden secrets, exploring the ocean and taking pictures are the main goals of the game.
As you get further into the story, that feeling of dread grows until it finally peaks at the end of the game. What I found impressive was that the movie gave you those same feelings. While you specifically weren’t the one making the decisions throughout the movie, the way things happened made you feel like you were. Markiplier’s character, Simon, felt like a main character in a horror game. Besides the fact that he was a prisoner and forced to go down into the blood if he wanted his freedom, the audience wasn’t given anything more, and Simon felt like a starting no-name character. At any time background information was given, I heard it from a disembodied voice, or it was done so in the form of a short and sporadic memory where I got to see and experience things like a video game cutscene.
What impressed me the most about the Iron Lung movie was being alone with Simon in the sub for the entirety of the movie. Playing as a character stuck in a small space, like in the game, is vastly different from just watching someone else move around in a similar tiny space. I fully expected to be bored by the end of the movie, not expecting to feel like I did when playing the game. Instead, I felt like I was back at my computer playing the game in the dark. Every creak and groan of the sub created this fear, and made me wonder what was outside, and no matter how many times I used the camera to check, I didn’t get a satisfactory answer. I felt goosebumps crawl along my skin at the realization that the map was no longer helpful and that I’d have to find another way to navigate. When the first blood drop dripped from above, the movie paused and focused on it just long enough for me to realize that there was more to worry about than just the pressure exerted on the sub, creating a deep feeling of unease. Everything was done in a way that made it so that the audience got to experience it as if they were there playing the game as Simon, and I think this is one of the big reasons I liked the movie. I went in expecting the movie to tell a tale related to the game I remembered; I didn’t expect to feel like I had just opened the game for the first time.
Connections
While Iron Lung, as a movie, was vastly different from the game, almost the entirety of the game’s environment and feel were remade and explained. The interface and the odd-looking camera button were all lovingly recreated. Even the odd steering controls were used and explained away as simple, but necessary. From the start of the movie to the end, it felt like the audience was playing a game, charting their plot through the sea of blood, and getting frustrated at instructions that either didn’t make sense or didn’t matter to them. One thing I was especially happy with were the odd actions and thoughts that Simon had throughout the film. He did things like a player would. While Simon reacted as an individual in horrible circumstances, he would also act up and try to beat the creation he was stuck in. If he was tired of something, he would get upset and try to mess with it. When a latch was found, he tried to pry it open using anything but the tool he might need, and when the camera forced him to get up to turn it on each time, he started trying to tape it down instead of following the rules. He acted how many of us would, trying to break the bounds of the game.
I enjoyed the Iron Lung movie, but it wasn’t perfect. There were little things that caught my attention, and I found myself being pulled from the movie into reality whenever Simon seemed to speak in a deeper voice just because he could. Little things like that didn’t make sense, but it still felt like something a player playing the game might do, I mean, I’ve caught myself talking to the open air as if I were the protagonist. While there are movies and series that try to take from games to make themselves stand out or to endear themselves to their audience, this was different. It felt more like an homage or an exploration of the world that was created in the game. In fact, if it weren’t for some differences in the game, I would almost look at the movie as a continuation of the game. It is because of this deep connection and love in recreating the game that I feel this movie has succeeded.
It’s not the same for everyone, but when I go to the theatre, I’m hoping the movie succeeds. I spend the money for snacks, for my time in the dark, and I’m always hoping the movie turns out good enough that I don’t feel like the time or money went to waste. This stood out as one I didn’t have the highest expectations of, and I was worried it might be succeeding by riding the coattails of Markiplier’s name. As the surprisingly short credits rolled, I left the theatre having enjoyed my experience, because I didn’t just watch a movie, I got to relive the feelings I had when first playing Iron Lung the game, I had some lingering goosebumps, the adrenaline brought on by the ending, and that little bit of fear that lingers as I wonder if that was really it, or if something else might pop up for one last jump scare.
