Iron Lung

"This is not an expedition. It's an execution."

2026 2h 5m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

🥫

59%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.7

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 451🥫59%Rotten Tomatoes●54Metacritic★5.7IMDB · 32,741

HorrorMysteryScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In a post-apocalyptic future where an event known as "The Quiet Rapture" caused all known stars and habitable planets in the universe to disappear, a convict is sent to search an ocean of blood discovered on a desolate moon, using a small submarine nicknamed the "Iron Lung".

“This is not an expedition. It's an execution.”

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Cast

Mark Fischbach
Simon
Caroline Kaplan
Ava
Troy Baker
David
Elsie Lovelock
SM-8 Research Lead / The Speaker (voice)
Elle LaMont
SM-8 Research Assistant / The Whisper (voice)
Mick Lauer
The Guy Who Told You to Cross the Wires (voice)
Dave Pettitt
The Father
Holt Boggs
Eden Soldier

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mark Fischbach
Writers: Mark Fischbach, Molly Brown
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $51M — a 17.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mark Fischbach, shot by Philip Roy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Andrew Hulshult. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Mark Fischbach shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Mark Fischbach and Caroline Kaplan and Troy Baker carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "This is not an expedition. It's an execution.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mark Fischbach directs. Philip Roy behind the camera. Andrew Hulshult scores. Mark Fischbach cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $51M — a 17.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
3Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.
4Directed by Mark Fischbach, shot by Philip Roy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Andrew Hulshult. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Mark Fischbach shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Mark Fischbach and Caroline Kaplan and Troy Baker carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "This is not an expedition. It's an execution.".
9IMDB entry: tt27564844 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 44 themes, including "future", "moon", "submarine", "expedition".

The technical file

Cinematography: Philip Roy
Original score: Andrew Hulshult
Editing: Mark Fischbach
Production design: Iman Corbani
Costume design: Erika Slay
Makeup / hair: Jennifer Briner
VFX supervisor: Wes Meyers
Sound: Brad Engleking
Stunt coordinator: Jeff Schwan
Runtime: 125 min · 2h 5m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,000,000
Box office: $51,226,173
Return: 1708% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Iron Lung (2026)
Rotten Tomatoes: 59% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 54/100
IMDB rating: 5.7/10 · 32,741 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 2 nominations total

Also by

Mark Fischbach

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Chris Sawin2026-02-06
★ 6/10
The film’s slow burn wouldn’t feel so staggering if it built to something wholly worthwhile. The blood, hallucinations, and sea creature are all great, but they’re too fleeting to make a lasting impact. Iron Lung promises something grand and cosmic, but its climactic reveal is abrupt, with few scares and only a brief glimpse of the monster. Ultimately, it’s two hours of tension that end in a bloody yet unsatisfying climax. https://bit.ly/lungofiron
CinemaSerf2026-02-08
★ 6/10
This time, it’s a “quiet rapture” that has caused mankind’s latest apocalypse, and so for the next couple of hours we spend time with a convict (Mark Fischbach) submersed in a vast and deep ocean of blood. He has been welded into a rust-bucket that has seen better days and with the windows sealed for his safety, he is informed of his mission only by instructions from the surface as he searches for the resources humanity desperately needs to survive. If he fulfils his task, he is to be pardoned and freed, but as his journey continues and his ship begins to fail, then truths he (and we) believe start to become blurred, questioned and compromised as his oxygen supply begins to run out and he can no longer tell what is true from what is hallucination. Now if you are a fan of claustrophobic horror, then this will be for you and Fischbach proves to be a decent exponent. Sadly, though, I just didn’t have enough context nor terms of reference to really get into the story - what had he done to earn this creaking entombment in the first place? That sense of isolation and the audio effects that augment it work well for a while, but after about half an hour I was struggling to remain engaged with his predicament or with this undercooked plot. It has an affecting intensity to it, but I just didn’t find enough happened and when it did, it was all too brief.
larz92026-05-30
★ 2/10
Without a doubt a colossal waste of time. Unengaging, scattered writing and zero payoff at the end. We follow a convicted criminal's journey through unknown territory in a steel can with near zero context and simply follow a guy gradually losing his mind in the most uninteresting way, leading the viewer to absolutely nowhere after being absolutely everywhere all at once. If anyone were to ask me if they should watch it, my answer is definitely more direct than the supposed "answer" in the movie: Hell no!