One of last year's scariest horror games is getting a movie starring YouTuber Markiplier

Iron Lung
(Image credit: David Szymanski)

YouTuber Markiplier is making and starring in a feature-length movie based on Iron Lung, one of last year's most pleasant surprises in the indie horror game space.

As reported by Deadline, Markiplier is directing, starring, and self-financing the Iron Lung movie, which is based on - you guessed it - his own screenplay adaptation of the game. Caroline Rose Kaplan, best-known for HBO's The Plot Against America, is also starring. The movie is being scored by Andrew Hulshult, who's written scores for several first-person shooters including Doom Eternal, Dusk, and Quake Champions.

2022's Iron Lung, developed and published by David Szymanski, is an absolutely dread-inducing little horror gem that takes place entirely from within a claustrophobic submarine. Decades after all known stars and habitable planets mysteriously vanished from the universe, the player character, a condemned prisoner, is ordered to investigate a mysterious blood ocean by a team of researchers looking for any remaining natural resources. If you come back with useful information, you'll be acquitted, but that of course involves surviving a blood ocean on a dead moon. 

Markiplier himself shared a brief teaser announcing the movie. In it, we get a perspective from inside a submarine that's diving and seemingly spinning as an unseen control person is heard giving updates from a gravelly speaker. 

The plot of the Iron Lung movie is still unknown. It'll be interesting to see how closely it follows the game, where you're left to deal with the threat of a collapsing submarine as well as the horrors lurking beneath the blood ocean's surface.

Szymanski has also been "heavily involved" in the production of the film, as he explained in a tweet on the heels of its announcement. He's helping with the script and pre-production, and will even have "a small cameo." 

"I couldn't be happier with how it's turning out so far," Szymanski said. "This is going to be something very special, and very wild. And for those of you asking, yes this is intended as a theatrical feature!" 

Looking for something new to keep you up at night? Here are the best horror games to play right now.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

Read more
Screenshot from Exit 8 showing a clean, bright passageway of a Japanese underground metro with a single suited man walking toward the camera.
Godzilla studio Toho is adapting one of the Nintendo Switch's most popular games - a liminal space horror set in Japan's metro
The House of the Dead first look 'Test Subjects'
Resident Evil director offers update on his horror movie adaptation of Until Dawn-sounding video game from over 20 years ago: "It's going to be very, very scary"
Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller as Drasa and Levi in The Gorge
Sinister director says his new horror film The Gorge is partly inspired by Silent Hill and Until Dawn: "I love those games"
Until Dawn
Until Dawn horror movie gets first look which unveils the return of Peter Stormare's iconic video game character
Mouthwashing screenshot of the captain Curly covered in bandages
After hitting 500,000 copies sold and nearly 24,000 reviews on Steam, viral $13 horror game Mouthwashing is coming to consoles this year
Dark Mass appearing in FGS Live from GDC
Put the 'die' in diving with Dark Mass' fully underwater survival horror adventure
Latest in Horror Movies
Kurt Russell in The Thing holding a stick of dynamite.
43 years later, John Carpenter has hinted at who turns into The Thing in the horror movie and one eagle-eyed fan has worked it out
Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried in Jennifer's Body
Star of cult hit Jennifer's Body says marketing "ruined" the horror movie's chances, but they may get another shot with a sequel 16 years later
Lady Dimitrescu and Austin Abrams
The new Resident Evil movie may have found a lead in a Euphoria star
Leatherface and Glen Powell
Glenn Powell could be taking a swing at a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Jai Courtney in Dangerous Animals
The first trailer for The Suicide Squad star's new serial killer movie makes Jaws look like Finding Nemo
The Bride
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s upcoming horror movie starring Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley gets delayed in big Warner Bros. shake-up
Latest in News
Seth Rogen in The Studio
New Apple TV show with 97% on Rotten Tomatoes teases all its cameos, including Martin Scorsese and Zac Efron
Animal Well screenshot, captured on PC
After his excellent debut Metroidvania took 7 years, Animal Well's solo dev says his next game shouldn't "take nearly as long"
Screenshots from Tekken: The Board Game teaser trailer
I hope your affairs are in order, because Bandai Namco just dropped Tekken: The Board Game
Tekken 8
Tekken lead Katsuhiro Harada says he's spent decades "mentally preparing" for AI to overtake humans, but it's not happening: "If AI had really advanced, we wouldn't be pouring 10, 20, 30 billion Yen into making games"
inZOI Character Studio trailer screenshot showing a young woman with ginger-y hair and a light baseball cap smiling to the side
The Sims competitor inZOI dethrones Hollow Knight: Silksong to become most wishlisted game on Steam
Minecraft Vibrant Visuals
16 years after Minecraft first released it's getting a modern visual upgrade with a retro lighting trick that Mojang hasn't seen "in any other game"