“This is not an expedition. It is an execution.” – Letter from David Szymanski’s “Iron Lung”.
Four years after its release in 2022, the chilling video game “Iron Lung” gets a movie adaptation from YouTuber Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach, who produced, wrote, acted, and financed the film.
Senior Donovan Green liked the game and was excited to hear about the movie.
“I thought it was interesting,” Green said. “It builds on the fear of the unknown.”
The movie follows a convict named Simon (played by Fischbach), who is sent on a rusty submarine called the “Iron Lung” to explore a sea of blood in order to earn his freedom on a small moon after an apocalyptic event with few survivors. After finding evidence of bones, his mission becomes more deadly, and his fate less certain.
The movie released on Friday, Jan. 30, 2025, and made $17 million domestically, surpassing its rumored $3 million budget, which is very cheap, as according to Investopedia, the average cost to make and market a movie is around $100 million. It was originally supposed to be shown in only 50 theaters, but pressure from fans who wanted to see the movie led to its showing at over 3,000 theaters.
Many claimed it was surprising how much it made, especially given its competition with more mainstream movies, such as “Send Help” starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, and the documentary “Melania” starring the First Lady, Melania Trump.
“Iron Lung” debuted at No. 1 on the charts, but the movie seemed to disappear from the charts on Saturday. On Monday and the following days, the movie came back. “Send Help” was No. 1 on the top charts for the weekend, with “Iron Lung” holding steady at second place, and the gap between the two movies continued to grow. Fischbach was still ecstatic about “Iron Lung’s” success.
“I know that ‘Send Help’ is going to win eventually. I mean, ‘Iron Lung’ isn’t going to be in theaters next weekend, really,” Fischbach said on Feb. 1 in a livestream titled “ACTUAL EMERGENCY MEETING!!” “It was supposed to be in 50 theaters.”
Senior Joshua Whitehead said he enjoyed the movie. He liked it as an adaptation of the movie, although he said it was good as a standalone movie.
“I think it was awesome,” Whitehead said. “It was crazy how well he [Fischbach] did for his low budget.”
Most critics agree that, for a cheap project, it was great, with some believing it was an early signal of a future producer career.
“Iron Lung’s not a flawless debut, but it has a bright future as a cult classic,” Simon Abrams said in a review of “Iron Lung” on Rotten Tomatoes.
While most enjoyed it, there was a common complaint about the movie: it was slow. Fellow Rotten Tomatoes reviewer Keith Garlington wrote that he wished it were cut shorter.
“It’s a bummer because somewhere in ‘Iron Lung’ is a tighter and more focused 90-minute movie that I would have loved,” Garlington said.
Whitehead said that while it was slow, it was worth it.
“It did kind of drag on a bit. It was a slow burn, but I enjoyed it,” Whitehead said.
