Poster for "Iron Lung."
On Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, internet sensation Mark Fischbach [@Markiplier] released his movie "Iron Lung," which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. The movie is directly based on the short indie submarine horror game Iron Lung, developed by David Szymanski, whom Fischbach worked closely with during the creation of the movie.
The budget of the movie was less than $3 million, with Fischbach funding it entirely himself. He even broke the world record for most fake blood used in a film at 80,000 gallons.
Fischbach released his first playthrough of Iron Lung in May 2022. At the end of his playthrough, he expressed how much he enjoyed the experience of the game, stating “It’s not just one thing that’s threatening you, it’s everything around you, and it’s constant and pervasive." In October 2023, he released the first trailer for his movie adaptation.
What makes Iron Lung unique is the gameplay experience. For one, the story takes place in an ocean of blood. At the beginning of the game you are given a few lines of text explaining your situation. You’re a convict tasked with exploring an anomaly in a makeshift submarine nicknamed “The Iron Lung." You are welded inside with the only window closed, so you can’t see anything outside. You have to learn the mechanics of the game as you go, as “there is no time for training." If you’re successful, you earn your freedom. The gameplay itself is repetitive and slow going because you are learning the controls and the threats as you progress. The entirety of the game takes place in the one-man submarine which is not designed for the conditions you are placed in. Even so, it takes some time before the game starts to throw obstacles at you. Fischbach really encapsulated this well by deciding to take his time and establish the unfair and dangerous conditions the main character, Simon, was placed in.
However, the pace of the movie received some negative reviews. A very popular review on Letterboxd, posted under the username of @frejaoneill, starts off with high praise for the movie. “Everything about this film in terms of filmmaking is brilliant, the camera shots are very clever, the cinematography is beautiful and you can tell a lot of hard time and effort went into making this film and everyone who worked on this, especially Mark, should be very proud of themselves." Then, they come in with criticism. “You can tell it’s based on a short video game with scenes that drag on for very long and, sometimes those scenes do feel empty."
Now, from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know the context of the game, the movie is a little harder to follow. My friend, who came to see the movie with me, didn’t know anything about the game prior to watching it. Although she enjoyed it, she had a harder time following the plot as someone being introduced to the concept for the first time. She wrote her own Letterboxd review under the username @neonatka saying, “This was an experience. Beautiful cinematography, unique filmmaking decisions, and way more experimental than I expected. Super cool for an independent film! That being said, I wish parts of this were expanded on further. I couldn’t catch everything the first time… am I missing something if I didn’t watch the gameplay?"
Although these are only two reviews out of thousands, they aren’t alone in their criticisms.
Similar to Five Nights at Freddy’s, Iron Lung’s adaptation into a movie comes with its flaws. The movie itself is targeted towards a specific audience, even if it doesn’t mean to. As a person who knows the game and its lore and as someone who liked the game a lot before the movie adaptation was announced, I had no trouble following the story and I became more and more excited to see how Mark was going to execute certain aspects of the game. So that begs the question, how good is "Iron Lung?"
I’m not a horror movie fan despite the fact that I love horror games, so the main character being Markiplier didn’t necessarily break the illusion, though knowing who he was made watching the movie easier when things started getting more intense. That being said, I thought Fischbach’s performance was stellar. He encapsulated so much emotion into his character, highlighting the frustration, confusion and fear that Simon felt in a way that was very realistic.
Overall, I was enthralled throughout the whole movie. Seeing a person’s short indie game made into a full length film by Markiplier of all people was magical. The adaptation was really well done and honors the simplicity of the game, even through Fischbach’s own creative elements. There were some details I wish had been explained more or expanded on, as occasionally I felt some parts would only raise unanswered questions. My personal rating is 8/10, or 4/5 on a five-point scale.