Iron Lung: The Challenges of Adapting A Horror Video Game

 

THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS SPOILERS BOTH FOR IRON LUNG: THE FILM AND IRON LUNG: THE GAME.

I remember back in 2022 when I first played Iron Lung and how it grabbed me. It seemed like such a great set up for a horror game: having to navigate an ocean with no way to see in front of you other than taking pictures, blindly stumbling around this sanguine sea, trying to find your barring, capture pictures, and avoid unknown terrors that lurk within its depths. I've touched on Iron Lung a little bit in my 2022 Halloween video (link here) and how I liked the way this game plays with thalassophobic elements (the vastness of the ocean, the deeply unknown nature of what inhabits large bodies of water, etc.) The mechanics, combined with this distant, dystopic future setting created such an unforgettable horror game experience.

However, having heard that Mark Fischbach (better known by his YouTube handle: Markiplier) was going to adapt Iron Lung into a full, theatrically-released motion picture, I was worried he might not be able to pull it off. Mind you, film adaptations of video games, especially horror video games, really don't have the best track record (See the Paul W.S. Anderson Resident Evil films, the Five Nights at Freddy's films, and the most recent Silent Hill films to understand what I mean.) Translating between the two media is a difficult task and one that not everyone is suited for.  However, I must say, after having seen the film last night, for how ambitious of a project this was, Fischbach, along with the rest of the cast and crew, did quite well!

There are a few things that they got down good. For one, the constant need for mapping and navigating the blood ocean. The majority of time that you spend in Iron Lung will be on trying to figure out where you're going. You'll constantly be referring to your map, your coordinates, then back to your map, then moving forward, then back to your map, then moving a bit, until something registers on your sensors and you push towards it. Fischbach depicted this very well in the film, constantly looking at the map, marking where he is, marking the boundaries of the ocean floor, and figuring out how close or far he is from the targets.  

Another thing they did really well was the sound design of the blood ocean. Some of the most effective sources of terror in Iron Lung is when you're suddenly confronted with the sound of some large beast outside of your submarine. You can't see it, but you can hear it swimming overhead and beside your ship, the sensors in your ship blinking and beeping harshly to punctuate its presence. The movie replicates this quite well in the beginning, when Fischbach's character, the Convict (called Simon in the film, unnamed in the game), first comes into contact with whatever being lies in the depths. 

Finally, I liked their attempt to flesh out the story a little bit. The Convict and the universe of Iron Lung have so little information on them in the actual game, a side from a few screens of expository text. This lead me to worry how this film could have been formed. However, it didn't seem to distract too much from the main narrative. On top of this, I thought Fischbach's performance was really great, slowly sinking into madness as his suicide mission continues. 

Having said all that, there were some things that I feel the film didn't get quite right. For one, there is a lot of yapping in this film. The Convict talks to the officer in charge, Ava, a lot. She talks to him and the other officers a lot too. Then he talks to the Speaker during the latter portions of the film. Then both are talking at the same time at the end of the film. We also hear audio logs from the previous person who piloted the SM13 sub (where the original log in the game was just written on a piece of paper), as well as audio logs from a destroyed SM8 submarine too. While I enjoyed the performances of Caroline Kaplan and Elise Lovelock, and I understand the desire to have more people to bounce off of, I feel like the film's psychological horror would be much more effective if the Convict was the only one talking after his sub reached cruising depth. Just a solitary man, alone in his ramshackle sub, slowly losing his mind.

Related to this, a lot of the tension of the game was established by the overwhelming silence. The parts of the game that made me jump were when that silence was pierced by sudden noisess, beeps of the sensors, the loud shutter of your camera, and other such sounds. 

Additionally, the film seems to be a bit too hopeful. The game, I feel, is super bleak in comparison to the film. You're stuck down in the blood ocean, on your own, no real hope for escape having learned that the previous Convict didn't make it out. What remains of humanity is confined to space stations and space ships, the phantom lights of stars illuminating the cold, vast, lifeless void of space. The fact that you are a Convict in the game reinforces this bleakness, given that there are not many human beings left in the universe, and whatever remains of human civilization finds it fit to dispose of people that they deem unsavory for some chance at a better existence. 

Granted the game ends with a hopeful message, but it seems so weak in comparison to the hell that just transpired before we get that message. Yet the movie seem to make the people in this position seem more caring and more desperate than indifferent to the lives of who they deem as lesser. Ava keeps on apologizing to Simon and begging him to get her the information she wants, while in the game, you hear no such pleas. You only hear cold, indifferent silence, and I find that way more chilling. 

Finally, the film's ending didn't seem that strong compared to the game's ending. In the game, after having heard various noises all around your ship, you finally get a real taste of what's on the other side of your rusted walls. Your ship is taking on blood at a rapid pace. Heedless of this fact, you still go to your last location, turning around to take a picture, only for a giant monster to break through the hull screaming and cutting to the title on a black screen. If the entirety of the game Iron Lung was violins shrieking out staccatos, this is the point where the strings finally broke. However, in the movie, there's some weird veins that grow around the ship, the Convict becomes mutated and deformed from radiation, the sound of the Speaker and Ava drown out each other, only for the ship to be engulfed by the mouth of the giant fish before it explodes. It just wasn't the same as that startling moment when a sea beast comes shrieking at you.

Iron Lung is a strong directorial debut for Mark Fischbach and I'm very content with what he came up with. In a way, it reminds me a lot of Duncan Jones' directorial debut film Moon, where a man is duped into doing work for a cruel, unkind governing body. However, there were some elements that were not present that I think could have taken this film to the next level. Nevertheless, I'm interested to see where Fischbach goes in the film industry. Iron Lung is perhaps the best film adapted from a video game to come out this year. Not that it's a high bar to clear. I mean, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has Yoshi in it, but it doesn't hold the record for having 80,000 gallons of fake blood in it. Perhaps Miyamoto should reconsider.