{"id":17404,"date":"2026-03-03T12:49:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T10:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/?p=17404"},"modified":"2026-03-03T12:49:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T10:49:21","slug":"from-tiny-indie-game-to-horror-film-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/from-tiny-indie-game-to-horror-film-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"From Tiny Indie Game to Horror Film Hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iron Lung <\/i>(2022), with its single-room setting, minimalist controls, and hour-long play-time, is a game that would feel right at home among the free, experimental horror experiences headlining the front page of itch.io<\/a>. The film Iron Lung<\/i> (2026) just made $22 million (against a $3M budget) in its opening weekend. Though this isn\u2019t the first time a viral indie game hit has become a box office success, otherwise comparable adaptations\u2014like Five Nights at Freddy\u2019s<\/i>, which also began as a tiny, simplistic horror game\u2014had years and years to build up a multimedia franchise and a large, passionate fanbase. So what\u2019s different about Iron Lung<\/i>?<\/p>\n

Why this film?<\/b><\/p>\n

YouTuber Markiplier (aka Mark Fischbach), an enormously popular letsplayer with a reputation for playing and reacting to indie horror games (such as, indeed, Five Nights at Freddy\u2019s<\/i>), first played Iron Lung<\/i> when it released in 2022. A year later, he announced<\/a> that he was adapting it into a film. Though surprising to some, this wasn\u2019t Markiplier\u2019s first foray into acting; for example, he starred in the 2024 horror miniseries The Edge of Sleep<\/a><\/i>. But Iron Lung\u2014<\/i>which features Markiplier as director, writer, editor, and lead actor, among other things\u2014is his first feature film. Markiplier\u2019s other projects and commitments meant that he couldn\u2019t work on it full-time; in all, the film took three years to make. David Szymanski, the game\u2019s developer, was part of the production team, and game composer Andrew Hulshult (who did the soundtrack for Szymanski\u2019s game Dusk<\/i>) scored the film.<\/p>\n

Iron Lung<\/i> had nearly no marketing budget<\/a>. Instead, it was Markiplier\u2019s close relationship with his fans that brought in viewers. The original plan had the film showing in only a handful of theaters, but fan hype grew the numbers: one source<\/a> reported 50-100 theaters, then a thousand<\/a> across the US, and then over four thousand<\/a> worldwide, including eight in Finland. Much of this momentum came from fans calling their local indie theaters<\/a> and requesting the movie, with some even making scripts<\/a> to help each other call. Despite this overwhelming and unprecedented popularity, Markiplier has kept the film independent and not signed any deals with distribution studios. If Iron Lung<\/i> has a physical release, he says he wants to burn all the Blu-rays himself.<\/p>\n

Why this game?<\/b><\/p>\n

In an interview<\/a> with Deadline, Markiplier explained that the film was part of his quest to be \u201ctaken seriously\u201d as a creator: a \u201cbridge\u201d between his regular job as a game streamer and his ultimate goal of working in film. Iron Lung<\/i> was a small, contained, and manageable idea that would teach him more about filmmaking. It\u2019s also part of a larger effort to topple the \u201cstigma<\/a>\u201d against YouTubers moving into other creative fields.<\/p>\n

In the game<\/a> Iron Lung,<\/i> you play as an investigator trapped inside a collapsing submarine (the titular Iron Lung) navigating the floor of an alien ocean made of blood. The objective: photographing certain points of interest with the grainy sub camera. The main source of tension\u2014and with it, much of the horror\u2014comes from the way this vessel moves. With no windows, no visual sense of your location, and only a blurry map, you must propel the submarine across the ocean floor by cross-referencing your coordinates and sending yourself blindly in a direction, praying that your beeping proximity indicator will warn you of any walls before you crash into them. It is the sort of deeply physical experience that only a video game can offer. Add to this the excellent minimalist sound design, a handful of well-placed jumpscares, and some truly freaky camera images, and you can get a picture of why Iron Lung<\/i> was a hit upon release. It commits entirely to its simple premise and delivers a legitimately scary, stressful experience.<\/p>\n

\"Iron
For most of the game\u2019s duration, you will be looking at this view. Especially at the numbers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iron Lung<\/i> the movie is considerably less scary. Instead, unable thanks to its new medium to capitalize on the stress of potential failure, it leans into a more psychological atmosphere. The oppressive, claustrophobic submarine becomes the site of a character drama more suited to the cinematic: though not able to maintain and maneuver the vessel ourselves, we feel the weight of these things on Markiplier\u2019s protagonist. Some exciting breaks from reality and a touch of (perhaps heavy-handed) cosmic horror complete the experience, expanding on the minimalism of the game in a way that feels natural. The film succeeds in its project of adaptation because it understands and respects what it is like to play Iron Lung.<\/i> We wait, we watch, we question the grainy photos on the wall, we second-guess everything we see. The slow pace of the film won\u2019t be for everyone, but a faithful adaptation of the game could never have done anything else.<\/p>\n

Markiplier gravitated towards Iron Lung<\/i> as a game to adapt not because of the gameplay but because of the story. \u201cThere\u2019s really a universe in here,\u201d he explained<\/a>: \u201cThere\u2019s something to dig into.\u201d Interestingly, I thought the clunky script and slightly-too-foregrounded attempts to introduce backstory and lore were some of the weakest parts of the film. But the universe\u2014at least, the tiny universe of the submarine\u2014feels real and tangible under Markiplier\u2019s direction. Memorable sequences see him desperately use the camera\u2019s flash as a light, pressing the button over and over, or fit himself into an awful little crawlspace not seen in the game. And of course, there is a reason why Iron Lung <\/i>broke the record for amount of fake blood used in a film\u201480,000 gallons\/300,000 L, to be exact.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Iron Lung<\/i> (2026) was playing<\/a> at Tampere\u2019s Finnkino theater in Finlayson.<\/p>\n

Screenshot taken by author from Iron Lung<\/i> (2022). Header image is from ironlung.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is Iron Lung, and why\u2019s everyone talking about it? #movies #indie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":17407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,1447],"tags":[225,1832,1570],"class_list":["post-17404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-game-related-media","tag-indie","tag-movies","tag-youtube","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17404"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17409,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17404\/revisions\/17409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}