Iron Lung, The Movie That Scares You Before You See It

Well, I’ve been doubling down on creative projects like ElectroNuke and Shadow the Hedgehog: The Recollected Cut recently, and with the advent of today’s topic, it makes sense why. As a matter of fact, I sorta wish I never ended that break at all. See, two of my go-to YouTubers nowadays, RedLetterMedia and Ryan Hollinger, have gotten into the thick of recent films made by other YouTubers. For the most part, this was spurred on by Backrooms, which is one that even I have a strong interest in seeing. Of course, Ryan Hollinger more than anyone has teased a video on Iron Lung, an adaptation of a popular indie horror game that basically amounts to you descending into the deep ocean and having to survive against creatures and technical malfunctions while supplied with limited oxygen. Or so I think, I’ve never played it myself. Based on the subject matter and the artistry behind the game, I take no issue with anyone adapting it… though, then again, the movie itself is not what this post is about.

Instead, I wanted to bring up its creator, as he happens to trigger some, uh… let’s call them highly unsavory memories for me. See, Markiplier is a YouTube gamer, having contributed to the Let’s Play community that Ryan Hollinger once referred to as vapid but now seems to have warmed up to, meaning he now gets brought up in the newly-wed Irishman’s thoughtful and well-researched horror film videos essays more than I’d like him to. As for RedLetterMedia, they haven’t brought him up by name, but they did bring up Iron Lung, which annoys me for one singular reason: they refused to call Iron Lung a “YouTuber movie” for the same reason they wouldn’t label Backrooms as such. In their words, a category with so many negative connotations should be reserved for rapscallions filming amateur videos in their backyard, corporate shills sponsored by Raycon and Surfshark, and clickbait con artists like MrBeast, just to name a few. Now, setting aside the fact that Ryan has been sponsored by both Raycon and Surfshark but produces incredibly well-produced and analytical content, their insinuation is that, say, a MrBeast movie would be worthy of the sketchy implications that come with YouTuber movies due to his vapid nature, but Iron Lung wouldn’t. Cut to Markiplier adding obnoxious MLG meme edits over a Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 video. That’s on the level with the eerie short films of Kane Parsons.

Now, I can’t judge the quality of Iron Lung without having seen it; in fact, based on the reviews and trailers, I think it’s safe to say it’s probably a super well-made movie all around. Yet, I unfortunately can’t bring myself to see it, and if you know this blog by now, you might be able to guess why. As I’ve mentioned here before, a minor contributor to Markiplier’s fame happened to be his playthroughs of a three-game series whose cast acts as the main antagonists of me and this blog, so to visualize my thought process whenever this film gets brought up, here’s the completely unedited trailer to a horror movie I’m actually looking forward to, that being DC’s Clayface.