Iron Lung

I'm going to talk about this movie without actually talking about it, because if you can go into it with no idea what it is, that's for the best. At least, that's how I experienced it, and it mostly worked for me.

What I knew going into this movie was that it was based on a video game I'd never heard of and made by a YouTube guy named Markiplier, who financed, directed, and distributed it mostly on his own. That's what I knew. I didn't (and still don't) know much about who he is, what his whole deal is. I'm not particularly dialed into YouTube people, but my wife Sandra is, so I asked her, "Is this Marky Pliers guy problematic?" and she was like, "Nope, he's just about the most decent guy on the internet." So I left it at that, and going forward, I'll think of him as the guy who made Iron Lung.

So what about the movie? Is it good?

Yeah! I liked it.

Okay, so in my review for Return to Silent Hill, I said that I respected a big swing, but that they didn't land it. This is a case where, while the movie itself wasn't 100% what I was looking for, they definitely landed a massive swing. A movie that is entirely and completely dependent on the performance of one guy that I've never seen before. That's a big friggin ask, and he gets the job done. He really did. Considering the kind of movie it is (which, if you watch it, you'll understand what I mean), it's surprisingly sophisticated. There's a lot of really interesting camera stuff, and I'd really be interested in seeing how exactly they made this movie, because that in and of itself is impressive.

They did a whole lot with very, very little to work with. I'm trying really hard to talk about the movie without giving anything away, because part of the experience is seeing just how they pull this weird shit off.

I don't know who Markiplier is beyond the fact that he's a "YouTube Guy," so I'm really interested to see if he continues making movies in this style. I don't mean technically, but producing, financing, directing, and distributing the movie himself. That can be a dangerous thing, in the wrong hands (no one tell JoJo Siwa about this), but this was his horror filmmaker audition, and it was a big ass swing that totally landed.

If I have any complaints, they're more about my ability to enjoy the kind of movie it is (the premise is challenging, to say the least) than about his ability to pull off a movie like this.