The definition of being an indie filmmaker consists of individuals who create movies without any help from Hollywood executives. With Oscar season having recently finished, indie filmmaking has been in the news lately as there is always a conversation around what gets snubbed and what doesn’t. More importantly discussed is who should get nominated at all. Arguably, this year’s biggest indie film project of 2026 goes to the movie Iron Lung, written, directed, and self acted by Mark Fischbach, a man who encapsulates what it means to be an indie filmmaker.
“The more indie you are, the harder it is to break into the mainstream like he did. Like, I know he was already popular but still, it’s a huge accomplishment,” said Immaculata-La Salle High School junior Adriana Velasco.
Granted, Fischbach did have a head start on the competition. More commonly known under his YouTube alias of Markiplier, sporting subscriber audience of 38.5 million, he documents his journey through the making of this film. Popularized originally for posting game play videos, in other words, videos of him actually playing video games, the funny and charismatic Fishbach, already had a solid fan base to rely upon. In addition to his likable personality, he is also known for being an outspoken voice for artists as well as being an overall kind individual.
”Genuinely, Mark is going to be one of the greatest indie filmmakers of all time in my head. The way he was able to achieve all of the things he’s got now is actually incredible. He’s been practically making movies for years, but this being his first big swing into the actual industry is absolutely spectacular,” said senior Clara Custodio.
The plot of the game Iron Lung and the movie are fairly similar at the beginning, starting with a message about how all of the stars have died and everyone alive on the space stations are the only ones left standing. Everyone panics as resources become scarce and then they send down a convict in a submarine on the moon they are stationed at to go search the oceans for any signs of life. The ocean, as it turns out, is entirely composed of blood. The game finishes as the player is noticed by a very large monster-like entity, an eye covering the porthole, and then the credits roll. The movie continues from there, delving into cosmic horror and trying to save the convict while the convict figures important knowledge out about the newly discovered missions that went before him, now scattered on the ocean floor.
“I watched Mark play it years ago. Then, I heard that he was making a movie. Of course, I didn’t see it just because it was Mark, but also because I loved the game a lot, and I was really excited for what he would do with it,” said junior Madison Press.
The idea of making the movie Iron Lung came about three years ago when Fischbach played it on his channel. He had a throw away comment about wanting to find out more about the story. Then, he made a follow up video explaining all of the story, playing it again. Fischbach also has a podcast called ‘Distractibles’ where he would go on for periods of time during episodes about how much he enjoyed the game.
“It was so exciting to hear all of the behind-the-scenes information on the podcast as the movie was being developed; I admire Mark’s dedication as a creative, and it definitely made me want to see the movie more,” said Mount Dora Public High School theatre director Ms. Tracy Ferguson.
This would spiral into a full on production budget of just a little over four million dollars, as he explained in an article for Deadline. For a movie of its size, that is almost stingily cheap. In Variety, Fischbach stated that pre-production had started in early 2023. Set photos and post production would happen around the end of 2023 as the final trailer was posted to Fischbach’s YouTube channel October 13th, 2023.
”My friends and I had been coming to the movie theatre and kept seeing the poster, and at some point, we bought tickets and went to see it. It actually completely deserves the money it earned, ” said senior Skylar Granado.
Both official and unofficial records would be broken during shooting and outside shooting. Iron Lung now holds the official record of the most fake film blood used on a single set, sporting almost 80,000 gallons, taking the record from 2013’s Evil Dead which only used 50,000 gallons. It’s unofficial record is, according to the Deadline article, that Iron Lung beat out several of its competitors at the first Friday box office featuring numbers almost triple that of its costs. On Saturday, Iron Lung outperformed towering competition over films like Zootopia 2 and Melania.
After a few weeks, because of the money it was generating, it was taken off the Box Office top 100 as it was causing the system to crash.
“When I came out of it, I said it was an avant-garde level of filmmaking in that it took some ways of creating horror in a different direction. I enjoyed the tension building (really fighting against my internet rotten brain) and all types of camera angles created space and also generated claustrophobia at the same time. It was in no way an amateur way of filmmaking, but it wasn’t A24 or Blumhouse either. In terms of story and dialogue, there’s a lot that’s ambiguous on purpose so that you’d keep going back and thinking about it,” said graduate film student and indie filmmaker Brady Hanney.
Though not everyone loved it—-some finding it confusing—Iron Lung still managed to satisfy multiple audiences. Iron Lung is taking huge swings in the industry, opening doors for others to take the next steps. For its first real step, it definitely landed on its feet.
