‘Iron Lung’ Drowns Audiences in Blood-Soaked, Deep Sea Terror [Review]

Aquatic horror films are notoriously difficult to make. No one wants to shoot in wet conditions for weeks on end. As a result, not many get made when compared to other subgenres like, say, slashers. But that’s what makes it so exciting when the rare gem does rise to the surface. Underwater accomplished just that a few years ago. And now, we have that film’s smaller, creepier, much bloodier cousin in writer/director Mark Fischbach’s (aka, Markiplier) claustrophobic nightmare, Iron Lung.

Based on the video game of the same name by David Szymanski, Iron Lung takes place in a post-apocalyptic future. An event dubbed “The Quiet Rapture” has destroyed all planets and life, leaving only a small portion of humanity still alive on space stations and starships. A convict, Simon (Fishbach), has been tasked with a mission to explore an ocean of blood on a distant moon believed to harbor valuable resources. Verify that, and he’ll earn his freedom. But once Simon descends in a one-room submarine, communications are lost. Images from the sub’s camera reveal the skeletons of mysterious creatures. And he soon realizes there’s a lot more to the mission than he’s been told.

I haven’t played Iron Lung. I can’t speak to how well this film works as an adaptation. But I can say that Fischbach’s version is pure nightmare fuel. The filmmaker displays an impressive ability for creating suffocating atmosphere. feels like a creeping haunted house film set at the bottom of an ocean (a blood ocean, no less). Immersive sound design pulls you under as the ship creaks and groans. The static of the comms fizzles. And strange whispers pass like waves through the air. All while mysterious figures lurk in the shadows just out of Simon’s view. Fischbach understands that it’s what you see that scares you the most. Unsettling though vague skeletal images of creatures taken by the sub’s camera inspire thoughts of horrors the mind can hardly comprehend. Lovecraft, eat your heart out.