Whereas many other YouTubers have tried and failed to break into the film industry both critically and financially, Markipiler’s Iron Lung, an adaptation of the 2022 indie horror game of the same name, was a massive Indie hit at the box office, despite being fully self-distributed by Markipiler himself. It managed an impressive forty-nine million dollars at the worldwide box office against a tiny three-million-dollar budget. Reception,  however, was split. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, it received glowing reviews from the general audience, but is it actually good?

The first thing that immediately stands out to you upon being led in the submarine after the opening narration is the production design. Three million dollars in terms of movie budget today is extremely small when compared to most modern blockbusters, which can range from one hundred fifty to three hundred million dollars in cost. But being the case that the film takes place entirely in one location, being the titular iron lung submarine. It allows the locations and setpieces to feel fully adapted into a new medium, going from the blocky PS1-inspired graphics of the original to the far more detailed set design of the live-action film. Despite being an isolated space, every nook and cranny of the ship feels full of detail and life as a result of those three million dollars mostly being put into the set design. 

The story, without going too much into spoilers, is also compelling. The mystery of what Markiplier’s character did to end up on a death mission, plunging him into the depths of a blood ocean, is very intriguing and well built up. The same goes for the cinematography, which, again, for a small budget film, is extremely well shot and even professional-looking for a first film.

But sadly, while it does excel at a lot of things. It stumbles heavily in its pacing. The film clocks in at around two hours, which it absolutely did not need to be. While some horror films do need those precious extra minutes in order to build tension and suspense. The film drags on for so long that you may find yourself close to falling asleep before any real terror starts to happen. This is part of why most people who came out split on the film. If the pacing was cut down to eighty minutes, maybe even sixty minutes. The film would have had much better pacing.

Despite this, I still came away from Iron Lung feeling mostly positive, and I’m excited about what Markiplier and other YouTubers could do next in the film industry.