Editor’s Note: This review contains spoilers 

To all of the fans of Mark Fischbach, known more commonly as the YouTuber Markiplier, I’m going to hold your hand as I say this: His movie “Iron Lung” was a disaster. 

“Iron Lung” was a passion project directed by Fischbach, who starred as the main character, wrote and directed the movie. 

As it was released on Jan. 30, I’ll do my best to avoid spoiling this movie. However, “Iron Lung” was two hours and seven minutes of an uneventful plot.

So uneventful, in fact, one watching the movie could fall asleep for 30 minutes, wake up, and only miss Simon (Fischbach) doing practically nothing in that timespan. 

If you’ve seen the movie, you might be tempted to argue this movie has a slow build up leading to a grand ending, similar to the video game it’s based on. 

The movie is based on the “Iron Lung” video game, published by Indie Developer David Szymanski. Fischbach previously played this game on his channel, which was the inspiration for the movie.

In this horror game, players are tasked with collecting photographic proof of life while in a submarine submerged in an ocean of human blood. As players progress in the game, it abruptly ends with a monster alien destroying the ship, which is the so-called “grand finale.” 

The movie attempts to recreate this buildup, but fails significantly. It feels like two-thirds of the movie is spent watching Simon mumble to himself and act confused. I feel you, Simon, I felt the same exact way watching this movie, even having played the game beforehand. 

Additionally, of the little dialogue that you hear throughout the movie, about half of it is lost to poor audio mixing. It’s a shame, as there is some interesting lore and monologues that completely get lost from the poor mixing. 

What’s even more of a shame is the fact this movie had approximately a $3 million budget and failed to use some of it to mix the audio better. Not only that, but considering the set consisted of the inside of a small submarine, I fail to understand where exactly the $3 million went.

Then, I remember that the budget all went into the bloody mess at the end of the movie. 

For reference, the last 15 minutes of the movie is Simon fighting off the alien creature while covered in blood. This blood was previously revealed to be instantaneously burning his skin, yet somehow he fights an alien while being covered in it. These small mistakes make a movie go from bad to worse. 

As much as I disliked the audio and plot, the lighting was decent. Throughout the movie, the lighting provided an eerie, dark and apocalyptic feeling. In this movie, the only form of light in the vast darkness of the unknown is through the submarine, and the only light in this submarine is through overhead lights and the light from the camera. 

While on the topic of cameras, two more issues pop up with this movie. 

One is with the cinematography, which was inconsistent and headache-inducing. There were so many parts throughout the movie where all the camera needed to do was focus for two seconds, and yet it didn’t. Because the camera didn’t focus, the viewer missed out on some important plot components. 

The second issue involves the camera on the ship. This camera is supposed to take photos, providing viewers with a good scare from an abrupt reveal of the monsters in the ocean. Since the movie gradually reveals the photos, the horror aspect is lost. If nothing else about the plot is significant, those photos were, and the ball was dropped completely. 

This movie was a passion project, but considering how large a budget it had, it should be held to the same standards as any other movie. However, fans of “Iron Lung” seem to be more lenient because of it being directed by a famous YouTuber.

However, if you were to remove Markiplier from the cast and replace him with someone else, this movie wouldn’t have been as highly praised. On LetterBoxd, the film has an average rating of 3.2 out of five stars, while a 59% on Rotten Tomatoes.I especially believe the only reason this movie had around a $23 million gross revenue is from fans supporting their favorite creator. 

Otherwise, if this movie marks the beginning of the new horror releases this year, I fear what others will be coming out.

Overall, I give “Iron Lung” 1.5 / 5 stars.