IRON LUNG

The ‘Iron Lung’ video game sold over 300,000 units. A massive boost to its popularity came from a YouTuber with 39 million followers, Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier), who featured it on his channel and became a super fan. Taking it from the gaming world to the big screen, he is the writer, director, producer, self funder, and distributor – as well as the lead actor, playing a convicted criminal called Simon. His character is forced to pilot a run-down submarine through a sea of blood on a desolate moon. The stakes are high after a catastrophic event wiped out every habitable planet and star in the universe, leaving the human survivors scavenging for resources. Simon is promised his freedom if he can successfully record the ocean floor. He’s the only person on screen for the entire film, trapped in a claustrophobic, windowless sub that’s bolted shut from the outside. Fleeting glimpses of the undersea world are courtesy of an x-ray machine which projects grainy infrared images onto a large screen and Simon soon discovers he is not alone. He finds himself battling for his survival and sanity as he deals with growing paranoia and a deteriorating mental state. Aside from childhood flashbacks, the only other presence of note is the voice of his handler, Captain Ava (Caroline Kaplan), whose communicates with him via a dilapidated speaker. This film was initially slated for a limited release at 60 indie USA cinemas, but its boom in popularity quickly saw it expanded to 4,000 locations globally. For a horror it’s refreshingly different. There aren’t any jump scares – instead every scene is fraught with growing, suffocating tension. The set consists of the bleak, shadowy interior of the submarine, dimly lit by the glow of the main computer monitor. Over 300,000 litres of fake blood was used, breaking the record held by the 2013 remake of ‘Evil Dead’. Multi-directional, layered sound is used very effectively, with creepy whispers and odd noises coming from all directions. I’m not familiar with the game, but I really enjoyed this. While it wasn’t scary in the typical sense, it shows how much you can do with so little … and some blood.