Iron Lung

Until a few weeks ago, I'd never heard of the video game Iron Lung. Neither had I heard of the YouTube channel Markiplier, much less Mark Fischbach, whose name it bears. His feature film debut (which he wrote, directed, edited, and starred in) only came to my attention as it gained press for its impressive distribution accomplishment: with no distribution company, no marketing, and no supportive infrastructure to speak of, it opened this weekend on over 3,000 screens in the US, and over 4,100 worldwide. That's wider than almost every 2026 release to date, including the year's top grosser, Primate. It's more than A24's biggest movie Stateside, Marty Supreme. For a small genre flick made on a shoestring budget by a guy whose prior releases were direct to a free online platform, it's nuts. It speaks to the power of amassing a dedicated following, as he and his team encouraged fans to call their local theaters to add screenings, which incepted film bookers with the fear of missing the coming wave. That attendance at Thursday evening showtimes frequently rivaled weekend crowds validated their action.

Even knowing nothing about the source material, its video game roots show almost immediately. There's a long, winding voice-over describing the state in which humanity finds itself, a distant future in which the stars begin to wink out, and the Universe is dying in the wake of "The Quiet Rapture". Our protagonist, first known only as "convict", and later, Simon (Fischbach), is given a the vague mission to map the seabed and no instructions on operating his janky submersible. He's quickly lowered into the depths, at which point he loses comms, and is left to figure things out by trail and error. There's a wall-mounted oxygen meter with only enough precision to increase the tension, a message from a previous operator revealed by crossing some wires, and a steady flow of minor tasks he must complete to move the plot along. Oh, did I mention the sea is entirely blood?

Read my full review on Pop Culture Maniacs.