Iron Lung Reviews

0.1 - My first draft of this review got deleted while I was typing & now I’m even more mad.

This is unequivocally the worst theater movie I’ve ever seen, & one of my least favorite movie experiences of all time. And that’s saying a lot coming just 24 hours after I saw Mercy. The quick hits are: horrible pacing, bland and restrictive settings, mid at best acting, terrible sound, bad lighting & an overabundance of unnecessarily tight shots in an already crowded space, & absolutely no horror in a horror movie.

It’s only slightly more confusing than it is pure, unadulterated boredom. There’s like a handful of moments of good production I guess, but the story issues are so horrendous that the production does nothing for me.

I’ll preface by saying that I don’t know much of anything about Markiplier other than he plays video games on YouTube & had something to do with Five Nights at Freddy’s blowing up. I’d also never heard of the game Iron Lung. I just thought the poster was kinda cool & saw a little excited chatter online.

So my biggest issue is how utterly confusing & non-sensical this was. I understand the game is a small indie game without a ton of exposition, but a movie needs to fill in those gaps.

What exactly was the quiet rapture? Was this guy part of a terrorist organization? Did they cause the QR? What did they have to do with trees? Who were the other people in the flashback memory moments? Why did any of that require them to sail a submarine around an ocean of blood on an alien moon? What were they actually looking for & why? Then just when I thought I had a little bit of a grasp of what was going on, it broke from the main story to get existential & surreal & unclear on whether he was dead or lost or having a psychotic break. Did he survive? Did he actually find anything? Was he able to connect with his crew above at all? And none of this was helped by the fact that half the movies dialogue came through distorted by a broken radio. Maybe some of these answers were there & I just couldn’t understand them, but that’s a problem in itself.

Overall, I usually don’t mind abstract or esoteric but I feel like as a casual viewer, I shouldn’t leave a movie not being able to explain anything at all about the core story. Really all I had was a criminal was trapped in a submarine where he had to take pictures. And I’m sorry, but that’s just boring in movie format. Especially when it’s mostly one actor, who doesn’t have much acting experience, & not much of a story to back him up.

I just have nothing positive here, because a criminal forced to sail an alien moon’s ocean of blood and face sea monsters (?) shouldn’t be boring or confusing, & this was so much of both. And that’s super disappointing because the basic premise of the game from Wikipedia seems interesting enough. Clearly being a good YouTube creator is unfortunately not a directly transferable skill to making a feature length film.

Never, ever, *ever* again.

Simon better than me I would have ended it all the MINUTE the submarine submerged

Markiplier should really be commended for how much he’s able to do with limited resources and material to work with, however, the movie is incredibly dialogue based, and I didn’t think that it was engaging enough to keep me hooked for how long the film was

When many think of the horror genre. They would think of the immense creativity that can come from the use of Practical effects,CGI or wonderous camera angle that many would deem impossible to achieve without impeccably unnatural bodily movements. 

Now I have been a markiplier fan for nearly a decade now. Many of his videos over the years has given me a massive amount of Entertainment & inspiration and I have noticed how creative and insightful Mark Fischbach is in not only adaptations source material but also being able to capture the visionary capabilities that this game has to offer and by pursuing this project he has achieved every single thing one could want with a indie video game adaptation. 

I had grown captivated with this film ever since I heard of the films development back in 2023 alongside the rest of the fanbase. Mark poured massive amounts of blood, sweat, tears and money into every inch of this project and it definitely shows after viewing this film. The visionary aspects outstanded me with every angle that came to my eyes became a skeptical. The cinematography that was presented was miraculous. Every angle presented a perspective that would me impossible to describe and somewhat impossible for someone to Believe in seeing in a horror film. 

I absolutely adore the amount of dedication Markiplier and the team had for the Practical effects. Some scenes mad my mouth drop in fear and absolute disgust in the best way possible. One particular scene made me give a particular comparison to one of the more recent evil dead movies. But even then, I applaud that they broke the record for most fake blood used in a horror film.

By making this movie Markiplier went above and beyond on what a self financed film can do in this industry. I surely hope that he continues on not only pursuing a directing career but also acting cause he most definitely has the ability to bring such elevation to the screen in the best way possible. I eagerly anticipate what lies ahead for him; my excitement is palpable.

I like Markiplier and thought he was great in this, especially in the end. The beginning starts slow and suffers a bit. The one location really constrains this movie as it’s mainly just Markiplier talking to voices on a radio. But when the second half hits there’s body horror, creepy voices, and some cool creatures. Def not the best thing out there but give it a shot and be patient with the beginning.

I liked it a lot, this world is so interesting. It could’ve been a bit shorter & I’m definitely gonna need a rewatch with subtitles (overlapping voices or voices with scratchy sfx is a very cool stylistic choice - unfortunately makes it almost impossible to hear) but if anything-

🫎1/2

This movie was horrible.

The pacing was incredibly slow, and the movie felt way longer than it needed to be.

Anyone who enjoys this movie is gaslighting themselves just because of Markiplier. Remove him and this movie is nothing.

The over use of the word fuck was so mind numbing and stupid. The script was so corny my girlfriend and i couldn’t help but look at each other and laugh the whole time.

Respect to Markiplier for acting, directing, and funding this whole film, but i don’t think another one should be made.

The story itself was boring. I didn’t get any of it. This should’ve stayed a videogame😃

The acting/voice-acting was a hard watch. I get it… Markiplier isn’t an actor, so I wasn’t expecting much from him anyway.

Being stuck in the same setting for a whole 2 hours gets so redundant. Don’t watch this movie.

if you have a dopamine addiction you are not going to like this movie. he does not change setting once in the movie. I thought it was great. it really followed the game and I just like him as an actor as well. I love the angles so if you like cameramen and directors.

Very meh. Not great, not bad. Mark has a lot of potential and I can’t wait to see what he does with the $7 million he’s already made on this movie because he could do a lot. Also, got flashbanged every two seconds. Overall: 5/10

I think this is good. I find it confusing in parts but I think that’s the point. Like the game, we are counting on the character with little knowledge to learn more, and although not all questions are answered, we certainly learn a lot as it progresses. Well shot, well acted 7/10

Really believed in Mark but this movie felt like a prolonged fan made short for YouTube. I get that the premise is very challenging and isn't fitting for a directorial debut so I'll keep looking forward to his next project hoping it'll be better.

When does he play FNAF 2?

Actually made me feel crazy and sick to my stomach, I’m so impressed. Cannot believe this is entirely an independent film. Phenomenal filmmaking from YouTube man markypoo

I don know mark or the game. I was impressed for a low budget movie, not that you can tell. He did a great job. Kept it tense. Kept you confused.
Yeah it’s a very slow burn and the payoff May or not be worth it for you but I liked the journey.

Fucking horrible. You have no idea what is happening the entire time. Complete waste of 2 hours and 35 bucks

unbiased view; it was interesting&the world was very intriguing, i thought there should’ve been more added to the story, but besides that it was fascinating, anything unique to the regular movies i have seen pique’s my interest, dissatisfied at the ending, but loved the dialogue

Didn’t love it didn’t hate it. Wouldn’t watch again.

Am I also tripping on radiation

I watched the gameplay too and it made me like it more