‘Iron Lung’ is the independent film of the year
The universe quiets as the Quiet Rapture leads to the disappearance of all stars and planets, leaving a reduced human population remaining on floating space stations and spaceships.
Humans have become scarce, and factors join together on opposing space stations that are stuck in the quiet vacuum of space. A single man, known as “The Convict” or “Simon,” is sent in a ramshackle submarine to traverse through a blood ocean on a mysterious moon.
A deep, wine red fills the screen as Simon travels through the blood ocean and takes snapshots of different locations shown on a map to gather information for the scientists he is helping.
With the promise of his freedom when he completes this mission, this convict slowly floats through the vast and hopefully empty ocean to retrieve the information that they are searching for.
“Iron Lung,” directed by a single man, is based off of the video game “Iron Lung” which was created by solo developer David Szymanski.
Mark Fischbach, famously known as Markiplier, plays the lead role, directed the movie and distributed this movie through his own studio. “Iron Lung” is his first ever film that he has created and it has made its mark on the film industry.
This movie hit No. 2 in the Box Office over the week of Jan. 30 through Feb. 5, beating other films’ first week sales such as “Melanie” and “Shelter.”
This indie film has sent ripples through the industry as it has profited 11 times the amount it cost to produce this film with a whopping $34.2 million. It cost Markiplier Studios $3 million to create this horror piece.
“Iron Lung,” an R-rated film, contains gore-y scenes, frequent cursing and other bloody images. However, compared to other films, this is necessary to not only create the environment that is needed for this slow-burn movie to be able to thrill the viewers that are supporting this YouTuber.
Depicting terrifying creatures that are shown through pictures taken by the submarine, “Iron Lung” created an environment in the theater that had viewers sitting on the edge of their seats as they watched the story unfold.
Despite Markiplier acting in a movie for the first time, and playing the main character, the emotion and urgent nature of his mission was not only intense but raw.
The main issue that was evident when watching this film was the slow beginning that lost some viewers in the theaters, especially those who have not played the game or watched gameplay of “Iron Lung.”
However, the action and horror aspect of this film draws the viewers back in and shows the true nature of this horrifying ocean that evidently Simon is stuck in.
This film is a must-watch and patience is needed to be able to finish it, but the hard work and effort of this new film creator is evident with this work, “Iron Lung.”