My Thoughts on Iron Lung
Iron Lung is the debut feature film from Mark Fischbach, who directs and stars in the film, who has spent over a decade making videos online, and watching someone who has spent years as a content creator suddenly carry a whole feature film is to be respected, much like Chris Stuckmann who released Shelby Oaks in 2025, though he didn't star in the film too.
The film is based on the horror game of the same name, where a a convict (Simon) is forced to pilot a rusty, makeshift submarine through an ocean of blood on a desolate moon, where the story doesn’t feel obligated to justify itself constantly.
You feel the claustrophobia immediately here, as the sub is small, everything is cramped, and Fischbach keeps the camera on himself for most of the runtime, where he spends a lot of time sitting silently, monitoring screens, or reacting to things we can’t always see clearly.
I thought he did a decent enough job of conveying tension with minimal movement, which is harder than it looks, and there are moments when Simon’s quiet panic is the only thing in the frame.
With that said, the story is bizarre.
Simon begins without a clear mission and is suddenly given a task - explore this ocean of blood and bring back evidence of something, or maybe multiple somethings, and it’s all intentionally vague, where the the narrative drifts, almost like a dream or a video game, ironically enough.
The plot doesn’t follow much conventional logic, as we see Simon stumble upon skeletons, a second submarine, and a strange alien creature - there are even loops, like an underwater maze that circles back on itself.
The set design and visuals deserves praise however, and it's obvious that Fischbach and his team thought carefully about how the space functions both in reality and on camera, and it has a real strong sense of intimacy, where the ocean of blood feels threatening, despite the ridiculous premise.
The pacing is the very biggest issue with Iron Lung though, and I suspect many people will zone out by the half way stage, as a lot of sections drag, and there are stretches where Simon is performing repetitive tasks that again feel more like gameplay than storytelling.
There’s also no external cues beyond Simon’s intercom messages and the occasional flicker of a monitor, as Fischbach intentionally lets the monotony settle in, and the narrative’s lack of clarity continues until the very end, where I didn’t find the answers particularly satisfying, and that’s not a criticism as much as an observation - the film is more interested in experience than explanation.
There’s a manic energy in the climax, an insistence on spectacle over coherence, which left me a little bewildered, and the sheer amount of blood is both absurd and effective, but it’s consistent with the film’s commitment to creating a suffocating, visually distinctive world.
By the time it was over, I felt a mix of amusement, tension, and curiosity about what Fischbach might do next,, because Iron Lung is peculiar, slow, but oddly meticulous, and even though it wasn't for me, I did appreciate things about it, and found certain aspects interesting, but just not the execution, but it's certainly a project that leans into its absurd premise and comes out with a distinct voice.
Iron Lung has its moments, but overall I just did not find it that interesting, but I will certainly keep an eye out for his next project, and hopefully it will be more to my tastes.