H.P. Lovecraft once claimed that the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown, so it stands to reason that some of the most effective horror stories follow ill-fated characters who become trapped in darkness and are forced to navigate the incomprehensible terrors surrounding them. This universal terror is precisely what makes Dave Szymanski’s 2022 indie hit Iron Lung such a memorable game, and likely the reason why popular internet personality Markiplier decided to adapt the title’s claustrophobic thrills to the big screen.
In honor of the Iron Lung movie finally hitting cinema screens this weekend after a brilliant guerrilla marketing campaign where fans had to request showings at their local theaters, we’ve decided to come up with a list highlighting five of the game’s scariest “points of interest” that we can’t wait to see on the silver screen.
As usual, this list is purely based on personal opinion, but don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite moments from the game that you’d love to see make it into the movie (or maybe even a sequel!).
With that out of the way, let’s dive into this blood-soaked list!
5. The Humming Monolith – X_870, Y_845, A_045
One of the least explored Points of Interest on this list, the Humming Monolith isn’t actually part of the convict’s mission as they explore the depths of the blood ocean. Instead, this eerie structure appears to have been included by Szymanski as a creepy easter-egg meant to hint at the Lovecraftian nature of the Quiet Rapture.
In fact, some fans have theorized that the structure might be a reference to H.P. Lovecraft’s first Cthulhu Mythos story, Dagon (where the titular deity emerges from the sea and embraces an ancient monolith inscribed with the history of the Deep Ones). And since the movie will likely have to expand on the original game’s lore in order to keep things interesting throughout a feature-length presentation, it would make a lot of sense for the Monolith to be a crucial part of the larger mythology.
4. The Ruins – X_864, Y_258, A_209; X_675, Y_828, A_295; etc
It’s not exactly a jump-scare, but one could argue that the first time you encounter abandoned ruins in the trenches of AT-5 is one of the scariest parts of Iron Lung. After all, the mere existence of these artificial structures implies that this entire seascape was once populated by an ancient (and possibly non-human) civilization, with some fans theorizing that the Quiet Rapture might actually have been their doing.
Either way, the remains of ancient buildings and abandoned pipelines now function as a submerged graveyard, reminding players of a catastrophe so far beyond our understanding that we can’t even be sure of what exactly destroyed these settlements. That’s why I don’t think I’m the only one who’d like to see this concept expanded on in the movie.
3. The Skeletons – X_613, Y_197, A_055; X_325, Y_741, A_018
Real-life fossils are already pretty morbid in and of themselves, with these natural snapshots of death from time immemorial reminding us that no form of life lasts forever. Of course, Iron Lung takes this concept to the next level by having players encounter bizarre skeletons of unidentified creatures that once roamed this moon’s pre-blood landscapes.
And while these gigantic corpses serve as an obvious reminder of the lethality of the Quiet Rapture, their saurian design and placement near the remains of ancient settlements also make you wonder about what this moon was like before the apocalypse – something that I’d love to see questioned by Mark’s character in the film.
2. Ghosts – Everywhere
Pareidolia is a term used to describe our species’ tendency to perceive human faces in patterns and images even when there’s nothing there. Horror artists often take advantage of this phenomenon in order to hide disturbing images in the background of otherwise “safe” media, and Szymanski did this masterfully in Iron Lung.
You see, the submarine will sometimes pick up strange patterns with its monochromatic camera, and some of these images look an awful lot like human faces contorted in agony, and others even look like lost souls swaying in the blood currents. While some fans think that this is just the game’s retro graphics playing tricks on you, others are certain that there’s a lot more to these haunting images than meets the eye.
It’s precisely this uncertainty that makes me want to see these humanoid anomalies in the movie, as directors like Ari Aster and even Osgood Perkins have already proven that hidden scares can be just as (if not more) effective than the obvious ones.
1. The Eye – X_456, North
The first indication that players are actively being hunted in the murky “waters” of AT-5, it’s almost certain that the movie will feature at least some version of the game’s iconic Eye scare.
Bumping into this reptilian-looking face and freaking out as the submarine began to flood is actually one of my personal favorite memories of the game, and I think this scene could easily become a major plot point in the big-screen adaptation as Mark’s character realizes that this blood-soaked world isn’t as dead as it seems.
Curiously, Szymanski has since gone on record confirming that the monstrous Eye isn’t actually part of the same creature that you encounter at the end of the game – meaning that the film could conceivably feature more monsters as it expands on the mythology of AT-5’s blood ocean.
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