iicor's stellarium

REVIEW BACKLOG IS INCOMPLETE!!! SORRY!!! I'M WORKING ON IT!!! o7

welcome to the media guide! i decided to start this because i'm very VERY bad at actually consuming media. my backlog is long for games, books, shows, movies, etc. the goal is to peer pressure myself into knowing more media and to actually keep track of stuff.

disclaimers:

1: i have dogshit taste and will basically consume anything that looks interesting. i like watching things i know will be bad, as i like to break apart what makes them such.
2: dark themes & SPOILERS will be discussed in the reviews - scroll with caution! i try not spoil in the first section.
3: if a title is annoyingly long i'll ... it. the dates started-finished and # rewatches may not be on all works if irrelevant.
4: if you have a note about a review that's civil, send me an ask or guestbook note. just have decency. if you feel the need to harass me over something i said in here: reevaluate.
5: i sort works by the day i completed them for the first time or rewatched them for review. frequently these are rewatches for the purpose of reviewing them.

iron lung ✦ 10/10

movie ✦ 2026 ✦ markiplier

127m ✦ completed ✦ horror, cosmic horror, psychological

2026.02.08 ✦ 1↺

"i just wanna live. is that so wrong? why doesn't anybody else want that?"

i judge media based on a couple of criteria, some of them are more vain like: did the cinematography look cool, are these game mechanics nice, was the animation good- but at the core of the reviews i write is this question: what is the central theme, truth, or question this is posing, and how well does the creator express, show or answer it. in this case iron lung is a solid fucking 10/10.

the 10/10 rating is not because i'm a markiplier stan, frankly, before this, i'd never seen a single one of this man's videos. i knew him as "the bite of 87" guy. but this film is so refreshingly good i have been transformed into a markiplier fan. god bless.

once i finished watching this movie, i went into an absolute frenzy researching everything about the lore of this game. i read the wiki. i watched all of mark's playthroughs (first markiplier video heyyyy). i looked at reviews and analysis and kept my ear to the ground for more behind the scenes content. i went and watched it in theaters again, goddamnit! i have not felt this insane about a film in such a long time.

now let's put on the english hat and analyse the movie. iron lung is about hope and humanity even when there is no hope and no humanity. the film is about an apocalypse more frightening, in my opinion, than a simply zombies or a meteor hitting earth. it's an apocalypse where knowledge fades. the people, stars, and planets are gone - but what's at stake and what simon fights for, is knowledge. nobody knows what's going on. simon is trying desperately to bring them data, information, something they can sink their teeth into and know, rather than still being caught in the dark. (what? iicor the data-hoarding education advocate being afraid of information disappearing? dang that's crazy)

the premise is haunting, and everything about the characters, the set, the actions taken by humanity, everything feels desperate and raw. despite how inhumane the COI is, and even simon is at times- simon keeps apologising, and acting human, and doing things that make you realise that he (regardless of if he truly blew up filament station) does not deserve his fate.

there were so many details, so much passion put into this film, it made me insane. this felt like the movie equivalent of one of those books that's a classic for a reason. it had so much symbolism, so much to analyse, even within the simplicity of the premise and set.

the pendant, a symbol of hope and simon's previous life on eden - a tether holding him down into the blood ocean, something that breaks and fills with blood, something that shoots out with hope at the end - the ship itself, a literal coffin, an iron lung, breathing for simon, keeping him alive, but never truly letting him leave - the ghost pilot, a symbol of what is to come, as evidenced by the arm and teeth on the face, a warning sign that shows up and keeps simon aware of the blood ocean around him - the leather harness, a gift from his mother, what he uses to send the blackbox up at the end - the button, his only way of seeing what's around him, something that's slowly killing him - the light, what caused everything, but yet something that illuminates and knows like nothing else does - the porthole, simon's only true way of seeing, similar to the pendant, scavenged from filament station, a barrier between him and the last person he ever sees - the lifevest, a seemingly joking symbol of hope, that in the ends allows the information needed to save or prolong humanity to survive.

the silent moments increased the tension. you know there's something outside. but all you can do, is the same all simon can do, which is to keep moving. i also loved the way simon slowly learned over the movie, he gets better at navigating, confident enough to do it blind. it's subtle, but such a great way to show how the most horrific things can slowly become normal over time.

little realizations propelled the horror of this whole movie. wait - it was radiation? then that means he's been getting damaged- wait - it was an x-ray? then that means it wasn't bones- wait- was that noise the monster all along? we've been hearing that the whole time. wait- she knew his name? he's only ever said his name to the monster- wait- a shadow was cast while he's in the ship's base? something else must be in there with him- wait- wait- wait-

the frog (as in the game files, aka the monster aka ellie) was terrifying. every time you heard it you were filled with a sense of utmost dread. i will forever see that thing's face as it slinks away when i'm going to get water in the dark. horrifying. props to the artist.

the other thing is, this movie expects you to pay attention. most of the stuff on netflix at the moment feels like it's spoon-feeding you the plot and themes. it doesn't let you fill in the gaps- that would be bad storytelling to let the stupid baby dumb dumb audience interpret! no no no! we must have two characters read the theme to eachother (cough stranger things season five cough)! otherwise the audience won't get it!

yeah, markiplier doesn't do that. when you see simon's grab the pendant of one of the ships' previous occupants, another man from eden, the way he holds it and looks at it - you can understand the exact feelings of simon. solidarity, some kind of pride, and shame tied to his role in eden. they don't explain this. they don't have simon say "oh golly gee! a pendant from eden! the other guy must've been from here!" no. they let him grip the pendant and just breathe. and you can understand everything from that. when the pendant breaks you can feel his sorrow and anger. there's no explanation. there doesn't need to be. the audience is expected to understand, and they do.

the hair, makeup, and set design was great. they make the ship and simon's outfit feel resourceful, like they're using the only things they can. the makeup of the blood splatter, blood shifting to burns as the movie progresses, the resurgence of the blood splatter at the end - it was so subtle i didn't even catch it on my first watch. the set also slowly shifts, rusting and growing scabs before the final flood.

markiplier's acting was surprisingly good. i was expecting him to not be able to pull of such a tormented and psychological role, or to break under the weight of a movie where he's on camera the entire time - but no. there were moments where beats went a little bit off, but generally? he hit every moment, and it felt incredibly believable and raw.

i have seen criticism of this film that sometimes simon the character gets a bit too close to markiplier the youtuber- and in some ways, yes. simon doesn't read the manuals and tells monsters to fuck off, which is very close to how markiplier plays horror games. i personally didn't take issue with this too much, and thought the "youtuber-y" moments were wonderful, for both alleviating tension and establishing how human simon is at the end of the day.

and now outside of my enjoyment of the story - this film is objectively good for indie filmmaking. markiplier studios did everything indie here, and as of the wikipedia page right now, they made 50million from 3million, and are 38th on the list of highest grossing independent movies. and studios? studios are fucking pissed. the success of iron lung is a sign people want real movies with interesting things to say, love, passion and detail poured into them - unfortunately studios are all staring at eachother and learning from this "HEY GUYS PUT YOUTUBERS IN HERE!!!" my guess for the next few years is we'll have studios put youtubers in movies for tickets, without realizing the reason why people liked iron lung isn't because it's a youtuber, but because it's a youtuber who cares about their craft.

overall - if you even in the slightest care about art and indie media? if you like cosmic horror? if you wanna see markiplier with his shirt off on the big screen? go watch this. go buy the dvd. go buy it on youtube. go buy the game on steam. go buy the merch. GO DONATE YOUR FREAKING BLOOD. JOIN A HIVEMIND. SUPPORT GOOD ART!

no podcasts? (in the style of megamind no bitches)