Movie Review – Iron Lung
In an industry full of inflated budgets and lower returns, horror movies continue to be the genre that gets the most bang for their buck, with the recent film “Iron Lung” continuing to prove this trend. More than having a fascinating story idea, this movie is propped up by the fact that it’s based on a 2022 horror indie video game of the same name, and it’s directed and stars hit YouTuber Markiplier.
One of these factors alone would be worth digging into, but the fact that this movie has fans of the original game and an internet personality going out to see it makes for an interesting case study. Also, since it’s coming out in the January dry spell, its success thus far has not been a surprise. Though this success does not automatically make it a phenomenal film, the adaptation takes leaps, resulting in a somewhat faltering performance.
“Iron Lung” initially stands out a fair amount with a fascinating post-apocalyptic sci-fi narrative that’s like nothing I’ve seen before. The film follows a group of people who survive an event known as the Quiet Rapture, in which every star and planet in the sky disappears. All that is left is a singular moon covered in an ocean of blood that must be explored if humanity is to have any hope of surviving. Enter Simon (Markiplier), a prisoner bolted into a submarine and tasked with traversing this ocean, with a camera as his only means of observing the outside world. Through this exploration, it quickly becomes clear that this ocean may hold things far deadlier than initially understood.
While this is truly a unique horror concept, the movie’s biggest initial hurdle is attempting to adapt this concept from a 40-minute horror game into a 2-hour film. The original game was celebrated for its effective, quiet, creeping dread, achieved mainly through sound design and very little voice acting. While movies can and have been minimalist like this game, the film chooses a more traditional way of expressing its story, mainly through a fair amount of dialogue. Many scenes in the movie show Simon consulting with his handlers via radio or mumbling to himself, slowly going insane by the gravity of the situation. This added dialogue expands on the setting of the source material in a way that feels in line with what was originally established, even if its presence does hamper the story’s tension.
Another hurdle when making a movie where a character is locked in a tight space is keeping it consistently interesting. To my surprise, they pull this off with numerous creative camera angles that make this small space feel like a puzzle box that is slowly being solved. After a while, you get used to being stuck in the same space as Simon, and you forget that you’ve been looking at the same images for two-hours. These creative liberties are not quite enough, though, to fully justify its runtime, especially when the “ok” performances started to wear me down at around the halfway mark.
“Iron Lung” is a film that perhaps works better without any expectations from the game weighing on your mind. Those going in relatively blind might be enamored by its concept and psychological horror moments, but it won’t be something that blows you away. I’ve never had the desire to see video games turned into films, but I can’t deny that I am always curious to see how they will pan out. Its attempt to emulate a unique brand of horror is something worth commending, even if it doesn’t fully pay off.
