The blood moon will rise to see a sea of blood and the quiet rapture over the horizon. 

“Iron Lung” is a film directed by Mark Fischbach and was released to the public Jan. 30, 2026. The movie is based off of a game that was created by David Szymanski and released via Steam on March, 10, 2022. 

The game is an indie submarine horror that follows a convict being sent down into the sea of blood to explore the bottom.

Humanity is on the brink of collapse after the quiet rapture takes place, leaving a sea of blood in its wake. Not much is known about it, thus our protagonist, Simon/convict (Mark Fischbach) is welded into a submarine as an exchange for prison time to venture down into the sea of blood to explore the bottom. 

A rapture for those who don’t know is an event in the Bible where God calls his children (those without sin) back to Heaven and leaves sinners behind to deal with the end of the world as described in Revelations. A more technical definition is the rising of believers of God to Heaven. 

Not much is said about the actual event of the quiet rapture in the movie, but we can infer that there is little left of humanity and the scientists sending him down don’t have many other safe options to explore the bottom of this sea. 

The themes within the story heavily lean on Revelations from the Bible at the end as he goes back and forth with his own mind and the creature speaking to him. It makes for an interesting watch as someone who grew up in the church and listened to those same teachings. Simon’s conversations with the creature highlights the way he thinks and his means of survival. 

One of the most interesting things that the creature says to him is, “How many people will you step on if it means survival?”

This conversation directly links to his backstory with the other people that died from the destruction of Filament Station, the situation that sent him down there. He made a selfless decision in the end, even though it wasn’t the ending that was promised to him and made up for those that he was blamed for killing.

As someone who is repeatedly called the butcher, his demeanor throughout the entire movie makes him feel less like a convict. We see time and time again that he claims that the destruction of Filament Station was not what was meant to happen and he seems to regret it happening. He also notably softens when he accidentally flashes the x-ray and hurts someone on the crew outside. 

Simon became someone to root for the minute that he shows sympathy for the people that he hurt in the x-ray incident. Then he continues to show the same remorse for the incident that landed him in the submarine to begin with. 

This remorse ties in with the consistent drops of blood that we see in the film. A bloodied past coming to haunt the present. Every time that blood drips on him, you can tell that he’s repulsed or scared.

The cinematography was also simple, showing one small set the entire time. That small space makes the viewer feel Simon’s claustrophobia and discomfort, which I think wonderfully heightens the anxiety that they want you to feel. The symbolism and the narrative that the movie paints captures the original “Iron Lung” game just as well. 

There couldn’t have been a better actor to pull off Simon and the direction for this movie was top notch. I would highly recommend this movie to Markiplier and horror lovers alike.

Movie rating: 5/5