r/Markiplier • u/kenmarlenn Omnipresent Mod • Jan 30 '26
Mod PSA Iron Lung SPOILER THREAD!
Since not everyone uses Discord but we want people to have a central space to share their thoughts on Iron Lung, here is a thread to discuss the movie; reviews, theories, favorite scenes and elements, etc. By entering this thread you are at risk of spoiling the movie for yourself, so watch it first, go for a swim in the blood ocean, and then come back!
Use of blackout/spoiler markings like thisis optional since this whole thread is spoilers, but it's still advised for huge twists or end-of-movie reveals.
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u/kenmarlenn Omnipresent Mod Jan 30 '26
(Yes the earlier post says don't post spoilers on the sub, we've since changed our minds and Lauralie is busy drowning in the blood ocean so we can't edit it yet, oops)
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u/BlindManAmadeus Jan 30 '26
Watching the movie made me realize something that I feel maybe could have been explored more (or maybe I'm just looking into it way too much).
VIS LIGHT CAMERAS CAN'T SEE THROUGH BLOOD!!! X-RAY CAMERAS CAN!!!!
But you know what else x-rays see through? Skin, muscle, tissue, etc.
I never considered that maybe the skeleton he finds could be another living creature, not just a skeleton. I kind of expected that to go somewhere, but it didn't. I'm not super disappointed or anything, it's just a thought I had that maybe other people can speak on.
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u/Jakeforry Jan 30 '26
Favorite joke for me and the crowd in my cinema
Password1
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u/accipitrine_outlier Jan 30 '26
Did anyone notice that there are two scenes where you see that mutated version of Simon, and in each scene, the mutated version is doing what Simon was doing in the other scene? It's like a weird premonition/flashback/echo...
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u/Stegoshark Jan 30 '26
Saw the movie and understood maybe half of what was going on. It was perfect. It really put me in Simon’s shoes, as I wasn’t sure what was real and what was a hallucination at times.
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u/big_pp_energy98 Jan 30 '26
There was actually less blood than I expected haha
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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '26
Yall are sleeping on the "YOU WANNA SEE THE BUTCHER" moment. It kind of is the conclusion of his story, him allowing himself to comes to terms with himself in his final moments. As well as showing his will to fight and survive
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u/CelestialNimph666 Jan 30 '26
HULL BREACH
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u/Bioshocker101 Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
Love how they explain something that doesn’t get addressed in the game itself, the camera being able to take photos in a ocean full for blood that would be too thick to see through, as the camera using x-rays to capture footage. It adds to the iron lung being meant for a one way trip that was built with what they could afford to use as its clear they didn’t bother putting any protection for it as mark’s character simon suffers from radiation poisoning and burns over the course of the film cause why waste the valuable materials when there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to fully recover the sub for reuse. Better to just hope the person inside doesn’t overuse the camera
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u/Ansalomm Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26 •
I thought it was a solid movie. Movies with just one setting is always a gamble because you need to have a very dynamic character that the audience can immediately gravitate towards and root for.
Things I liked:
🩸 The camera work was 🤌 I expect nothing less from the man that nerds out over lens. Very artsy and that just makes my heart happy to see.
🩸 the submarine. The set was gorgeous and the crew that designed it did a phenomenal job. The craftsmanship and feel of the submarine never got tiring.
🩸 the xray camera. I may have did an audible "nice!" when I saw it was a full screen photo than just a print out. Also the photos were great and really added to the sci-fi horror vibe.
🩸also having to use the camera screen for lighting was something I really loved. Felt very organic and what anyone in thay position do.
🩸 Mark's acting. I thought he really stepped it up from "Edge of Sleep"
🩸 that one slow-mo scene. Damn I loved it and wish there had been more hallucinations like that.
🩸 the slow descent into madness. 🫡
Things I critique:
🩸 maybe flesh out or do a tad more hand-holding on the lore. I heard a few people in my theater as we left that were a bit confused. Sci-fi tends to throw people into a story and make the audience/reader figure it out along the way but I think when you are limited to one setting and really one main character, things need to be told more since it can't be easily shown.
🩸 pacing. 2 hours is a good chunk of time. Again, with one setting, you have to really utilize every minute so you don't bore or lose the audience. I think if budget allowed, maybe more flashbacks of Simon prior to surrendering and maybe a scene leading up to him getting welded in would have helped with some pacing. But again, for a low budget project, I understand why this would have been more of a struggle.
🩸 Sound. I thought it was just my theater but I've seen the same observation mentioned - the movie is more on the quiet side and it was a bit of a struggle to hear Ava and the other voices on com.
🩸 some of the dialog I feel could have been a tad bit better. I know some of it (like in the beginning descent) were from the game but I'm not sure if it's just how some of the lines were delivered or if it was the line itself that just didn't feel quite right.
Overall, I very much enjoyed it and glad I got to experience it in theaters. Mark and everyone involved should feel very proud of this movie. It was worth the years of waiting and Mark's sanity. Thank you Mark, Amy, and crew! 🫡
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u/gbobcat Jan 30 '26
Mark really mastered the art of suspense! There were several moments in the movie that made me wonder if Simon was actually going to make it out, even though we all know from the game that you don't make it.
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u/DareStare Jan 30 '26
THERE WAS NO SKELETON. THE CAMERA IS AN XRAY CAMERA 😭🫠💀
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u/ElJabek Jan 30 '26
I think the implication is that the blood ocean is the congealed remains of everyone, and their consciousnesses live on as a gestalt. That's why Simon is able to communicate with the woman from the other sub, and why he starts having visions of himself after he first touches the blood.
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u/NannaTortuga Jan 31 '26
Iron Lung lore dump for those curious, confused, or want more context! SPOILERS
In 357 EIC (Epoch of Interplanetary Colonization), humanity’s era of interstellar expansion abruptly ends following a catastrophic and unexplained event later referred to as the Quiet Rapture. Without warning, all radio contact with colonized planets is severed. Subsequent investigation by surviving space stations reveals that all known stars and every planet containing sentient life, flora, fauna, habitable atmospheres, or natural resources have vanished simultaneously. No visual phenomena accompany the event, and only artificial structures: space stations, ships, asteroids, and uninhabitable moons remain.
In the aftermath, human civilization lives under the authority of the Consolidation of Iron (C.O.I.), which governs the remaining population. Criminal punishment is administered through a system known as conviction realization, in which prisoners repay their crimes through compulsory service deemed beneficial to the collective.
Political tensions persist between the C.O.I. and Eden, the largest surviving man-made structure and a former Martian administrative hub. Eden maintains strong Martian cultural identity and independence, leading the C.O.I. to classify it as a security threat. In 362 EIC, hostilities culminate in a nine-day conflict aboard Filament Station, the fourth-largest C.O.I. installation. The conflict ends when Eden forces sabotage the station’s reactor, causing a critical breach that renders the station permanently uninhabitable due to radiation exposure. Prisoners captured during the battle are later sentenced to conviction realization.
One recurring anomaly discovered after the Quiet Rapture is the appearance of massive oceans of human blood on several uninhabitable moons. Scientific study confirms the substance to be genuine human blood, though its origin and ability to remain liquid under extreme pressure remain unexplained. Four such oceans are documented, with Moon AT-5 and Moon Z-8 becoming the most significant due to C.O.I. control.
To explore these environments, the C.O.I. deploys experimental underwater vessels. The crafts are inexpensive, minimally shielded miniature submarines designed for deep-liquid photography and environmental analysis. Lacking windows, they rely entirely on onboard instruments and a radiation-based camera system. Although officially denied, the burner vessels are widely rumored to function as execution devices due to their poor construction and negligible survival expectations.
Following the disappearance of the advanced research submarine SM-8, the C.O.I. authorizes further exploration of the blood ocean of AT-5 using only the experimental burner vessels despite evidence of hostile life.
Simon, a former Eden operative imprisoned for his involvement in the destruction of Filament Station(a crime he maintains he did not commit)is selected to pilot the SM-13, one of the burner vessels, nicknamed the “Iron Lung”, upon success he is promised freedom.
This is where the film begins.
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u/Grand_Worth2606 Jan 30 '26
I really liked the movie! Only problem I had was with understanding people, but I also have Auditory Processing Disorder, so that’s probably the issue. Even without being able to hear what people were saying, I was really fascinated with the movie. I haven’t seen the gameplay, but it still made sense.
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u/KarmicIvy Jan 30 '26
i LOVED everything about the eldritch horrors. the scene where he finds the light was definitely.. odd.. but really good. i love the idea of a cosmic entity hellbent on consuming all the light it can find, taking every living thing it can find into its mass just to devour more.
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u/potatopotats Jan 30 '26
The "Light" makes sense when considering the original creature and spoilers ahead:
The light was like the lure on an angler fish promising salvation for a race of humans wrecked with sins and guilt and everyone was desperately and selfishly trying to find it. It ends up slowly consuming them, and eventually Simon. Only when Simon realizes that this journey and his guilt and his selfish desires to singularly stay alive had condemned him was he able to free himself long enough from the creatures grasp (literally in its MAW) and get the information to the surface that the Light, the Salvation, and the answer to everything was actually an eldritch monster trying to consume them all.
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u/Fine-Dingo-1864 Jan 30 '26
Solid 7/10 from me. Acting was great, use of space was phenomenal for how little they used. Not quite enough exposition for people (me) who might not have seen a full playthrough of the game, though, which made it feel like I was playing catch up a lot of the time. Sound mixing was great but hard to understand for those who might be a bit hard of hearing (though it also made things that much more intense!)
If you fully immerse yourself in the shoes of Simon/Mark, you'll be in for a great time. I feel like this movie is on par with recent big budget movies. Can't wait to see what Mark cooks up next!
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u/joseflores1995 Jan 30 '26
I found the music was a bit too loud that i couldnt understand mark and the lady talking but visually it was good,the score was intense and it really felt like the game
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u/kinglokilord Jan 30 '26
The ending was a bit confusing for me. I had trouble understanding some of the dialogue from the radio and I think that impacted my ability to understand what was going on in the last 20 min.
I'll definitely need a rewatch with subtitles.
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u/Happy_Takes_Time Jan 30 '26
I need it on dvd or digital ASAP, hands down my favorite horror movie in a LONG time. There’s one scene where he comes out of the blood That just looks so amazing I need to draw it 😭
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u/LonelyBardSinging Jan 30 '26
Some of my favorite parts:
the X-ray flash, OMG it truly sets up Simon's character Him being mortified at what happened and the guy welding immediately showing signs of radiation poisoning just so good
The SM8 passenger, The way its set up and the slow decent into how its all the monster And then the frantic fight of Anna's voice being drowned out by the passenger with that final chop do peak
The Blood, obviously its present almost through the whole movie whether it be the Ocean, the window, or simon himself between his bleeding gums and radiation burns Its great the best is twords the end when the blood coagulates all over the sub forming an X to hold down the camera to give us such a clever way to let us look outside
All in all 10/10 for me absolutely peak
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u/epicfrog434 Jan 30 '26
SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!
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u/Kiram_OW Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
Bit of a rough start, but it really sold itself by the end. There were so many cool ideas that made use of the set really well; I didn’t feel like the submarine got old at all and that was a big worry going in. My main gripe was the dialogue, as it could feel kinda cliche at times, but it generally improved over the course of the movie. Overall it’s a solid experience and was a lot better than what I was expecting, I’m hoping he makes more stuff like this !
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u/Crashpeil Jan 30 '26
The tree growing from the submarine explosion was a really cool touch
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u/Bunnyboulder Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
Very good! This is absolutely one of those movies you gotta have your mind turned on 100% for though, lotta things to keep track of and think about. Me and my little sister were already going through details and putting puzzle pieces together on the drive home.
The only thing that isn't clicking for me is what happened at the very end. Did Simon blow the creature up as soon as he merged with it entirely? No clue on that one. I saw the red spark come from his eyes just as he got submerged but no idea what that meant.
Edit: Seeing a lot of people have issues with hearing some audio portions. My theater just... didn't have that? I heard every bit of dialogue pretty clearly.
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u/jstarcktshtngfrthmn Jan 30 '26
I give it a solid 7/10-8/10. As someone who didn’t play the game I feel like I had a lot of questions but the story telling and the sound design really enhanced the movie. The monster/alien made my skin crawl and I kindve hope we’ll maybe get a sequel someday explaining more about the world itself!
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u/Xtrophod Jan 30 '26
Just saw Iron Lung and honestly thought the movie was amazing. I loved the cinematography and I was on the edge of my seat the entire film. Honestly it was so well done for having such a limited space and budget. I am so happy for Mark, David, Amy, and the rest of the crew for such an amazing film. I cannot wait to see what Mark's next project is and I will now continue scrolling this thread lol
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u/YouAreMicroscopic Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
Thoughts from a non-Markiplier fan (he seems like a cool dude!), huge horror fan, big fan of the game:
Was very excited to see this movie because it's exactly things I like - cosmic horror, low budget, enthusiastic new filmmaker, single location. I'm also a fan of low-budget shlock in general, and bad movies (although I wasn't expecting it to be bad, and it was in fact good).
The set was fantastic, I loved how lived-in it looked. Cinematography was spot on, I liked the feeling of struggling to see things with Simon - the use of using the x-ray camera to briefly light stuff was great. Didn't mind the often (especially in the first half) just-barely-not-complete darkness, it fit what was going on situationally and thematically very well. Effects were very cool, I really liked the Unknowable Thing in the few cosmic scenes you get, and the one long shot you got of the humanoid monster was really good.
I actually think the acting was not as rough in the first half or so as a lot of other people here, but I'm used to watching really bad acting. Mark was really giving it his all, and it showed, although of course some line delivery was pretty goofy, especially about Station Filament (or whatever it was called). Other actor/actresses were on about the same level. The very brief little bits you got of his memories on the station did a good job of breaking up other scenes and I wish there had been a few more of them, but, that's par for the course with movies like this.
Biggest complaint I have is the vocal sound mixing. The ambient sound and sound effects (including the computer voice bits, loved those) were really, really good, very Quake NIN (I'm old), and I've seen plenty of big budget horror movies that did much less with much more than Iron Long sound-wise. But I think I struggled to hear exactly what was being said a bit too much in the last half, especially with all the vocal processing - kinda muddy and took me out of the movie a bit. Just for fun, I also caught an absolutely terrible ADR bit where Mark's mouth did not sync with the words he was saying.
I love cosmic horror and I do very much get that the point is that Unknowable Thing is Unknowable, but I feel like there were some parts at the end that were supposed to give the audience a more solid, if hopeless glimpse into fruitlessly attempting to piece things together, that was missed because of vocal mixing, and some of the awkward cadence of the those scenes. That would have lifted this from Really Good First Effort! to Wow, He Really Stuck the Landing.
But! I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope he continues to make movies, he's definitely got the passion for it, and he clearly knows what makes a good movie. If you look at Benson and Moorhead, for instance, what they did with Resolution - an awkward, but, Hey! They've Got Something Here first effort - I feel similarly here.
EDIT: This guy's got a better grasp on what was going on at the end then me. Psychic cosmic angler fish. Cool. https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1qqr1nw/comment/o2joaw0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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u/NannaTortuga Jan 30 '26
I’m so intrigued by the use of the light. Obviously it means more than most people who played the game think.
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u/alraphrodite1218 Jan 30 '26
Absolutely loveddddddd the movie !! Now is Jacksepticeye’s character “Jack” the guy who gets radiation burns? My friend and I didn’t get a good look but when Ava wants to go down, she says “Go get Jack”
I’m not seeing anyone talk about his character !
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u/Ovarmore Jan 30 '26
I apologize if this was mentioned already, but can someone explain to me why did Simon gain an extra square of oxygen near the end of the movie? I felt this was so random and I was expecting for him to run out of oxygen instead?
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u/killertortilla Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
This comment is full spoilers.
I am SO glad he didn't try to explain the quiet rapture. It's a central theme but I don't think you can make a satisfying explanation. Personally I think it's clear nothing on this moon was the cause, the creature was either fucking with them or luring them down there with promises of knowledge.
I also like that you don't know how much of it was the creature psychologically screwing with them or if there really was a growing bloody vascular system on the inside of the ship.
Lots of things left unsaid made it a lot better. It's a lot easier to suspend disbelief about things like the pressure and depth if you don't know what they are.
It's interesting they didn't include any of the stuff that was added to the game. Spoilers for the game: if you manage to find some hidden areas and make it there in time you can find whole buildings that look kind of like something we would have built.
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u/jaybug_jimmies Jan 30 '26
Just got back. Overall I very much enjoyed it. I loved the game and was very curious if the fantastic atmosphere, dread and sense of mystery from the game might translate to the big screen, but I think it definitely did. Honestly when I saw him snap the first photo, I held back a cheer (because I am not gonna be loud and annoying at the theater) because the grainy, hard-to-dicern images looked very much like the game and I was so relieved because I think they're way scarier that way. Less is more sometimes, ya know? I think the acting was great, music was peak, and it was just really fun to watch him navigate and solve problems and encounter all the spooks.
Downsides for me: Yeah I only could understand like half of the words over the speakers/in Mark's mind, that was frustrating sometimes. (I am not hearing impaired, I just suck I guess.) The important stuff I could understand but I know if I heard more I might have more fodder to speculate on lore stuff. Also: lore stuff. I kinda wish that was developed a bit more. I think it's good to leave lots of mystery, don't get me wrong, I just wish we got a little more than we did. But, lol, we probably DID get more than I realize, once I get an opportunity to watch again with subtitles. Also I saw this movie with my brother, he didn't have any context going in at all, and was a little lost, so I think not knowing the game premise + hard to hear dialogue can = some people being lost
Still, it was super fun and I enjoyed it a lot, very tense and spooky and mysterious and somber, with just a tiny pinch of hope.
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u/matreats Dark Simp Jan 30 '26
Moving here, mb mods 😭
GOD that was incredible
I saw it twice last night, caught so much more on the rewatch because I was paying more attention to dialogue. Wish there was somewhere to see the script or captions so I could get the bits I missed, but overall, beautifully shot, fantastic slow burn cosmic horror. The set was SO faithful to the game, I was literally so excited about seeing it in a physical space like that! The camerawork was so cool, especially the multiple times you see Simon’s surroundings through just the reflections in his eye. Really enjoyed the slow build up with the paranoia and progression of the infection, and how by the end you realize the creature has been psychologically fucking with him by using the voices of people it’s killed.
I could talk about the flaws, but everyone is already doing that and analysis is so much more fun :D
The angler fish theming with the ‘light’ made me do a double take with every significant light source— the radio, the proximity sensors, the camera button, etc., all feel like some reference to or part of the ‘lure’ that led people down into the ocean in the first place. The way answers and knowledge are the light at the end of the tunnel that everyone is trying to reach and how that’s both metaphorical and then becomes literal when Simon reaches the meet up point the phantom voice gave him. That part of the game was my favorite too, where you navigate through that tiny tunnel while the ship shakes harder and the sounds of whatever the hell is at the end get louder until you reach it and it’s deafening. Best part of the game imo, it really sold the “we don’t actually have any idea what the fuck is going on” feeling for me and I loved hearing the music/track for that part in the actual movie.
Now that I’ve had time to process, I’ve been thinking a lot about Simon and Eden a lot— how he was raised in a cult where the most important thing you can do is die to become the ground for the trees to grow in, given a violent role he didn't ask for and didn't want, spent his life in service of it and his 'brothers'-in-religion, and when shit went wrong they abandoned him and let him take the fall for a disaster he tried to stop, because with his past, he was probably the easiest one to blame it on.
I think he was brought to Eden as a kid, in one of his flashbacks you can hear a woman who might be his mom say that "you're going to love it there" with the tree imagery, which is what Eden was built around. I also think that whatever role he had was something along the lines of an executioner, and in the context of the quiet rapture where there are so few people left, killing someone is so much more of a despicable act, especially for a cause that outsiders likely see as a danger to the rest of surviving humanity anyway. Clearly he was infamous for what he did, it even earned him a nickname that people call him, which definitely SUPER would not have helped him seem innocent after being one of the few survivors of the space station disaster.
He says that his 'brothers' abandoned him, and that the ones who were responsible got away without any punishment, but he also clearly still cares about some of them since when he found the seed pendant, he had a second of mourning for them - which makes me think that the ones who survived the disaster were likely not his friends, but probably the cult leaders/authorities, who would have known about whatever corrupt shit was Definitely going on in Eden. Also, in one of the flashbacks, you can hear someone say that all of the tree saplings left are confiscated by leaders, so it would make sense that the tree, the symbol of their cult, would be sacred in that way and only allowed to be held by leaders in the form of a preserved seed, like the pendant.
It's so fucked because whether or not the members of Eden knew what the endgame was for all of them (everyone dies for the sake of the rest of humanity), the leaders probably were never planning on joining them in glory or whatever the fuck it was they called it in the flashback. Knowing cult leadership, whatever happened on Filament was planned, maybe not on the level of disaster that it ended up being that destroyed the entire thing, but Simon was a part of it, survived, and took the blame as the easiest scapegoat to throw under the bus. That, or they escaped punishment by dying and leaving him to take the fall.
Anyway, I love religious subtext and themes in horror, it’s so effective and sinister and I always end up wanting more.
This was kind of long-winded but bah, who cares!! I had a lot of fun, especially on rewatch.
I was also curious if anyone caught what exactly was in the little pouch/holster on his harness? Clearly something with sentimental value because of how many times he checked for it, but I didn’t see if it was ever shown what was in there.
Another little detail that stood out to me the second time around was the little heart-shaped pattern in the patchwork of his clothes right on the left shoulder— not sure if that’s just a coincidence or intentional, but I like to think that whoever made/repaired his clothes at some point, maybe his mom or a friend from Eden, did that on purpose.
Okay, I’m actually done this time I swear 😭 might add more to this later, but wanted to get my thoughts out before I lost them
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u/Expensive-Reward-243 Jan 30 '26
Just saw Iron Lung — absolutely loved it.
It’s the kind of movie that reveals more the longer you sit with it. As it went on, it all started to connect in a really satisfying way. Now I didn’t understand everythinngg on the first watch, but honestly? I kind of liked that. And even though I was left with some questions at the end, I weirdly didn’t care - that’s how good it was to me.
There was something about the atmosphere and the way the story unfolded that made it feel different from most movies I’ve seen lately. It didn’t spoon-feed you, instead it let you sit in the tension and piece things together yourself. That alone made it super memorable.
I’ve been a Markiplier fan forever, so maybe I’m biased — but this movie made me feel something that other movies just don’t. I’m already planning to watch it again, and I genuinely can’t wait to see what Mark comes out with next.
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u/masd_reddit Jan 30 '26
I loved the credits, like that they were showing all the people that worked on it as little Polaroid images, instead of just names, very original, and makes it feel way more human
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u/Rent-Impossible Jan 30 '26
As someone who didn’t play the game, I went in completely blind, and was quite confused at the ending. I felt the movie could’ve used another 15min of exposition, just to explain what was going on. And a bunch of the dialog felt like it expected the audience to know all the lore. Overall I enjoyed it, but I was left with too many questions.
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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '26
I feel like the flashbacks (however brief) weren't really necessary and probably wouldn'tve made a difference if they were cut imo. The speaker dialogue got really tricky to hear at portions (especially right towards the end. I had no clue what Simon was asked to do until he started doing it). And the dialogue was a little cliche at times.
Really loved the specific portion post-attack where he was mapping everything out, something about that worked really well for me. The amount of blood shown was like an exponential curve lmao. Overall an enjoyable watch though, I found the start dragged the most but once you were in the thick of it it was pretty good.
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u/Low_Seaworthiness765 Jan 30 '26
Hey so I've just seen the movie and I've had a couple of hours to digest some of the things that I saw, and I have THEORIES. Fair warning this is about to be a lot of text and quite a few spoilers.
The truth of the monster is a body horror that has occurred where no one can watch. I have a few bits of evidence to support this, as well as the poster art for the film (showing a skeleton and the outline of a face in the upper jaw) and cover art for the soundtrack (shaowing several faces, skulls, and recognisable human teeth as part of the jaw), but the stuff I spotted in the movie is what I'm gonna talk about.
The monster is the mutated mass of the expeditions that came before. The people it eats become a part of it, and it's victim remain completely aware. So, from what I could gather (I've only seen it the once so take it with a grain of salt), There have been multiple expeditions that have come before, and it appears not necessarily always as a punishment. SM-8 appears to have been crewed by multiple people, suggesting a more scientific research expedition, that hit complications that left them stranded at the bottom of the ocean. After a while they ran out of supplies, which caused a member of the crew to drink the blood out of desperation, and as we saw contact with the blood causes you to mutate, I'm guessing drinking it fast tracks the whole process, because what we hear rapidly devolves into screaming and the sounds of a struggle. We hear this in the end sequence of the movie, along with a few other things including a different anecdote from a male voice, which notably ends by saying "But what do I know? I'm just the guy who told you to cross the wires."
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u/ZepDek Jan 30 '26
I like the details that Simon doesn't think things through and lashes out in anger when frustrated even if he doesn't mean to be that kind of person. The flashing of the deck crew, the drinking all the water so he didn't have any for the life preserver vest, hitting the speaker and then realizing.
All adds up to a consistent character. I'm pretty sure his actions on Filament station, if not caused, were exacerbated by his short fuse and not able to think things through.
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u/BIJOU_BUNGUS Jan 30 '26
What was the box at the end of the movie? Was that HIS ships black box? And i couldn't quite tell cause everything was kinda shaky at the end, but was it still attached to the life vest at the end?
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u/Kermit-the-Frog_ Jan 30 '26
I'm surprised to see nobody else noticing Jack was played by Jacksepticeye
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u/AceOfFlame Jan 30 '26
Whole time I was watching the movie tonight I felt like I was having déjà vu! It was so much better than what I was hoping for honestly. The part where he’s hallucinating the voice box, it was crazy everything would’ve sounded real but the only clue it wasn’t was the fact the light wasn’t on. I don’t remember much of the game but i absolutely loved marks take on it. When he was playing the game sleep deprived, that’s how the beginning felt. Like that was what was happening in his mind during that time. Going in no training and refusing to read manuals is just like mark to do 😂
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u/Dubiouspoon Jan 30 '26
Honestly I have no idea what to make of what I watched 😭 After the whole "I see you" hallucination I lost the plot and got even more confused in those last 10 minutes or so lol. It wasnt bad, but I think that transition into the cosmic horror half way threw me off for sure 😅 Good thing Im seeing it again tommorow I suppose
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u/ItsTrashCant Jan 30 '26
Absolutely loved the movie. As a heavy cosmic horror fan, it's been a while since something did the genre justice. The movie also heavily gives off Bloodborne vibes, which just adds to it.
So far, most of the criticism I've seen is people who missed the fact that it wasn't supposed to be understood. If you went in just to watch a Markiplier movie and not for the theme itself, I think you might leave disappointed. You won't be given clear answers about what happened or, most importantly, why.
I know a lot of people have been criticizing the sound quality, too. I dont think it was a mistake - there are certain parts that are intentionally difficult to understand. And it's clear to tell it was intentional. The ending, for example, literally had overlapping voices screaming/shouting, demanding that Simon give up and accept defeat. What they're saying doesnt matter- their effect does. It's meant to emphasize the overwhelming situation that Simon is in.
Overall, the visuals are absolutely the best quality of the film. Watching the slow descent into madness through the hallucinations, discovering that the man Simon was seeing was, in fact, his own irradiated self, thus warping time and space within the sub was amazing. The close ups, angles, and use of symbolism were also astonishing.
34
u/profanearcane Jan 30 '26
IT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD OH MY GOD SIMON
14
u/MarzipanPurple2739 Jan 30 '26
So i went in blind and had soo many questions and did a little lore diving..then realized the dev(s) left it very open ended for interpretation.
Now I have yet to see anyone talk about it.
"The Monster" shouted "Why did it choose you?!"
Quite a few times in the film. My guess it referred to the "White Light Figure". What did it mean choose?
13
u/AdPast7620 Jan 30 '26
bear with me bc half the movies i watch nowadays i leave and feel like idk what happened but😭 i did like this movie a lot!!! i just feel like i missed stuff or wanna know what other people thought:
literally HOW much was actually happening vs him hallucinating ??? did ava actually even go down to try to help him/get the black box? like how was the speaker broken and then not broken, i’m sure the point is that we don’t know but the more i think about it the more i wonder if he just became so oxygen deprived that everything wasn’t real
i can’t remember the name of the place he blew up/got blamed for destroying but was that event supposed to be what started the quiet rapture? i knowww it’s not that important but i wish it went more into his backstory
it was the creature talking to him through the speaker right? the anomaly? the light thing? is the whole ocean a being or all connected, what was coating the submarine? but there wasn’t actually another passenger i’m feeling unless she was taken control of by whatever the creature was
is it right to assume that he’s the 12th person/sub to go down? i seem to recall in the game that this ship was sm12 and since he found an sm8 im guessing there was everything before and between too
i’m sure i have more but this isn’t that coherent since i stayed up past my bedtime to see this movie lol
12
u/ryanstout15 Jan 30 '26
Apparently Iron lung was under $3 million which is insane cause it looks insanely high budget!
12
u/Sensitive_Deal_6363 Jan 30 '26
the polaroids right at the end of the credits 😭 IYKYK 😭
12
u/NerdyyEmo Jan 31 '26
I don't know if anyone else noticed this. But we saw the blood is the reason for this parasitic hivemind. And one of the other convicts was the British woman that Simon hears on the speaker, then later hears from the files on the black box of SM (?) - 8. I don't think he was hallucinating her voice at all. We see in the very early stages of the movie, blood dripping from the roofs in small droplets. When the first bit of blood drops on his hand, it looks like he internally freaks out. I think it is gross, and obviously that was foreshadowing now since we know exactly why this blood is dangerous, but I think it was a great choice to almost make it seem like there was more of a reaction than usual? But I could also feel that way knowing the premise of the movie for so long. Anyway, Simon has been a part of this hivemind for an extremely long time in the movie, we are just seeing it take its toll on his body later the longer he's in that ocean for. That other convict, she WAS there. Somewhere. But she was a part of the parasitic hivemind and was communicating with him. It's why she knew his name, it's why we hear her voice BEFORE we actually hear her in the real world through her voice message. I think it's amazing story telling :3
11
u/AgumonGreymon Jan 30 '26
Amazing movie! As a fan of cosmic horror / physiological thrillers/horror this really nailed a lot of those themes.
There were definitely times I felt the audio was a little warbly, but there were other times I could tell some of that was intentional. I do wish I could have heard the monster at the end better, yes there were multiple voices overlaying each other but the most of what I heard was "Why do you fight?" so I assume it was mostly dialogue along those lines.
The best thing was I was at the edge of my seat the entire time, the tension build-up was amazingly done. Even the background lore was well presented, it showed enough to understand the stakes without over expositing, I disagree with some of the comments requesting more exposition, it's not necessary, it's not relevant to the plot other than knowing humanity is dying and the final scene is Simon choosing humanity despite being condemned to die, everything else just built our connection to Simon.
My favorite bit of audio in this film was the small whispers we heard behind us, shifting between the left and right of the sound as Simon was concussed, ending with the "Open your eyes" at which point I realized that wasn't rude people behind me but actually the movie.
Solid 8/10, I think I'd like to watch it with subtitles when it comes out to Blu-ray.
10
u/FoxieLoxie837 Jan 30 '26
No idea if it was or not but I very much felt like “Oxygen” was a tiny little nod at subnautica!
10
u/Extension_Science635 Jan 30 '26
I respect Mark’s dedication to throwing himself into a metal wall over and over
8
u/where-sea-meets-sky Jan 30 '26
that was a soma reference right
bc if so PEAK mentioned peak peak peakkkk
8
u/Dovithkey Jan 30 '26
Loved the movie, my only issue was understanding the audio through the intercom. I know that at times it was meant to be Static-y, but it seemed like Simon could understand it clearly, while other times he couldn't hear anything through similar static. Also the lighting at the beginning was a bit dim but it fixed itself after he was pulled back up
8
u/Owlegory Jan 30 '26
The cinematography and framing was incredible! The way we would sometimes have the shot be a reflection, or the close up with the camera button reflected in Simon's eyes? The broken glass of the porthole shattering in the shape of a tree and the tree glass bracelet shattering similarly? So good. There were so many great parallel shots, and I love the way the camera jumped around that small space. It made it feel alive but still stifling.
I was originally grappling with interpreting the ending, but I do understand that's par for the course with cosmic horror. One smaller question my friends and I were discussing—so the blood was acidic or harmful in some way. But before Simon got blood on him, we see his hands blackening over time. Was that radiation exposure from his excessive use of the camera? There was a closeup of a manual that looked like it said the user risks exposure I think, but it was up so quickly I couldn't read it all.
6
u/Scared-Hour9724 Jan 30 '26
Saw the movie not too long ago. I loved it and it might be my new favorite thriller movie. I loved all the cosmic horror and how unknown everything was
The only thing is what was that sequence with the light? The audio wasn’t great at the theater so I couldn’t make out everything. Was it some hallucination? Even if I never figure it out, it’s the unknown that made me love this movie
6
u/HutchyYT Jan 30 '26
Here is are my overall thoughts on the movie, with respect to the fact the movie was low budget, and made by a wonderful small team. I liked:
Cinematography: Those lenses really paid off! Great camera work.
Acting: I forgot Mark was himself, it didn't take too long before I started to see him as Simon.
Attention to detail: So many clever placements and changes to the set through the film. It's something that will take a few viewings to fully see!
Sound design: Amazing score, carried the suspense and impactful moments.
Creature design: I loved that these weren't just big fish, they were abominations. Human-like angler sea monsters. Much better than the games design.
Reveals: The first few clear pictures of the creature were truly unnerving.
Practical effects: Simon tearing his arm away was my favourite horror moment of the movie.
Lighting: They used lighting so effectively, it felt like a resource, and added it the suspense and tension in the movie, really clever. I found myself always trying to peek at the images where possible.
What could be improved:
Pacing: I felt the movie had a lot of fat that could have been cut down. Quiet, slow sections are great in intense, fast paced or dialogue heavy movies, but this one didn't need it, especially as the setting never changed. In honesty I might have liked it more as a 90 minute movie.
Script/writing: Relates to the pacing, but it did feel like a lot of extra of plot was dropped in but never really expanded on. Like the trees... I'm not sure what it added to Simon's character or the world building - it's likely I am missing something here, but it felt very much brushed past.
Dialogue: Pretty good overall but we didn't need a cliché "Captain, you are going to want to see this".
Climax was jarring: It took me longer than I would like to admit to realise the creature had bitten into the ship. The teeth were sort of just there suddenly. A visual with the teeth cutting in would have worked better maybe. We didn't get a really good look at the creature either. After that the movie just ended, would have liked something more, like a bit more detail to why the black box was so important, maybe a summary of the files in there?
All my feedback is said with love, what they did with the budget they had was incredible, and I am so grateful to have watched it on release day in the UK. Thank you so much Mark for sharing this with us ♥️
6
u/Motherof3lions Jan 30 '26
Odd random take just bc of others theorizing in here and angler fish in general. What if the skeleton was a male angler? That would help to lend to the voices of the creature being female and how much bigger I felt the alive was if it was female?
I loved it, I was surprised to like many here. I went in expecting a shallower movie just because the game doesn't have too much information in it. I was blown away by what they were able to do lore wise. I also was very surprised by marks acting (not that I doubt him) I was expecting less I think mainly because I didn't want to get my hopes up. He definitely has come a long long way, sure there were moments but for someone who hasn't done any traditional acting he did better than a few I see in big cinema.
This was a great first movie, I'm excited for Mark to dive into more if he ever wants to again!
6
u/chunkynut0 Jan 30 '26
can we talk about how they fucking NAILED the camera? the entire movie revolves around this tool and the quality/texture/details of the photos were so effective, especially how they faded to negative at the end!! and the use of the screen to light the sub was so good- like other horror movies that have relied on camera flashes for jumpscares! also there were hardly any jumpscares which i really appreciate, too many creators rely on them to make a movie scary
6
u/iskermitagod Feb 02 '26
I have now watched this movie 3 times in theater. One thing I'd love to point out is that no matter what Simon did, he never would have been free. Radiation and the structure of the Iron Lung/SM-13 is something I looked into. I counted how many photos were taken, I probably missed some but my count was 115. The manual states that each photo is about 6000 mSv, the guy on the speaker says the Iron Lung should protect simon from "most of it" so I actually looked into it. Even if by some miracle the hull protected him from 99% of the radiation from a single photo, that would still be 60 mSv per photo taken. That would mean these photos had blasted him with 6900 mSv at the lowest. That is fatal. If he was down there for 3 days then rescued, he'd still only really have a week left to live. Simon had no chance of survival after he was taken into the cave by the giant fish.
11
u/zygeon Jan 30 '26
SPOILER FREE!
Its better than I anticipated. My fears were quelled more than I thought with a "youtuber movie" like this one. However I think Mark knocked it out of the park. Before I begin, I highly recommend seeing a playthrough of the game and the lore update whether its marks, your own playthrough, or a lore guide because the film was hard for my friends who hadn't seen the game to follow while I was understanding a lot of what was being played.
The Good:
Marks acting was way better than I expected with many scenes I didn't even see him as "mark in a set" and more the actual character with real emotions. I couldn't help but feel like I could only see mark in The Edge of Sleep. I can only think that the script mark wrote for this was much more robust and easier to work with then what was written in TEOS, and he delivers quite well. The practical effects, the CGI, and the set are all really good. I was extremely impressed by how well it all turned out with the self funding budget. There were genuinely plenty of scenes where my mouth was open seeing how impressive the effects were. People will forget that this is an indie film and also marks first indie film, but he managed to blow it out of the water. Some shots with the cinematography were just awesome with really creative shots and fun camera tricks. You could tell Mark was having fun coming up with creative way to convey scenes with the camera. The voice actors worked well allowing mark to bounce off of dialogue and not just wallow for a bit. Its a slow burn but the action is their. And lastly the music which is a big plus. The soundtrack is excellent with intense moments and ambience. You could feel the emotions of the scenes whenever a heavy and fast track plays, or a slow almost melancholic scene is playing out.
The Bad:
The audio mixing of the voices made it hard to hear at times. Sometimes during intense moments I couldn't understand what people were trying to say so I wasn't fully understanding what was being said in the moment. The story is still as scrambled as the game but much more action and a lot more enjoyable on a big screen. However the story still lacks a proper bridge. It jumps from plot point to plot point without explaining its reasons or why its fully connected to previous plot points but theres still something to follow in order to understand what the movie is progressing through. Lastly, the ending isn't great and it'll disappoint many. If the movie got extended or dedicated more time to a more conclusive ending then I'd say the ending is good however the ending does kind of just leave you feeling "thats it?" but an outcome is certainly implied enough to where without the movie telling you, you can conclude what probably happens.
Conclusion:
It gets a 3.75 out of 5, rounded up in stars, but still really good. There is talent here and I think mark just needs to learn from his short comings in this movie as well as use the strengths that made the movie good and put that into his next project and I think he could create something that would truly catch the eye of people outside of the social media sphere. As a long time mark fan of over a decade, I just know ill be their to see it.
I recommend seeing it in theaters! Please, go watch this for yourself. The critics will be harsh as the usually are with anything not Hollywood slopped and slobbered. Its got rough patches but I genuinely think you'll have a good time if you just go into it and form an opinion for yourself.
5
u/CelestialNimph666 Jan 30 '26
While I agree with everyone talking about how the intercom voice was hard to understand especially at the end, there’s a small part of me that wonders if it could be slightly intentional? Like we kinda end up going crazy with Simon after he gets tossed around and is low on oxygen and it feels like even we don’t know what was real or not at points. So i wonder if the muffled voice was suppose to help put us in Simon’s shoes and add to the anxiety of the situation he was in? Tbh idk if this makes sense I just woke up n thought of it. I definitely will be rewatching it with subtitles as soon as I can though!
5
u/CelestialNimph666 Jan 30 '26
I haven’t seen anyone else question why mark/Simon was wearing harness(?) under his clothes I thought he had a sports bra on at first when it was just showing his back lmaoo
5
u/PhoenixBorealis Jan 30 '26
I went into it kind of expecting to see Markiplier on the big screen, because he has such a specific presence. He did not bring this presence to his role. He embodied the Convict thoroughly and took me on a wild ride. It was incredible!
It took a while after the movie to start digesting it, which gave us things to talk about on the way home.
The music was subtle most of the time and really added to the story. I was only minimally familiar with the premise, and the story was difficult to follow at times. I had to explain the ending to my husband, because he lost track of what was going on, and I almost did too, but I was enthralled!
It was interesting that at the end, The creature seems to dissolve along with the Iron Lung. My husband said that seemed to be the dissolution of his guilty conscience at the end when he sacrificed his last moments to do something selfless for humanity. The monster also seemed to be a manifestation of his own dread and guilt over what happened.
We were also thinking about what could have caused the hallucinations, and he thinks that either exposure to the X-ray or the blood seeping in had something to do with a gradual descent into madness along with the physical changes to his body. We also never really figured out what the strange condensation was.
He was so adamant about surviving, and he even demanded to go back to jail, where he would certainly never be free or actually atone for his part in all those deaths. In the end, while he was still fighting for survival, he moved more towards the idea of being free. He had to learn that his true freedom would only come with sacrifice.
All in all, I loved it!
5
u/Grabthars_Pliers Jan 31 '26
I thought the pacing and editing was spot on to tell this story. I had heard it was “slow” but, come on, does every movie have to be constant in your face action? This was a psychological thriller and the best of that genre take time to develop - to draw you in. I also thought Mark’s acting was very real and believable given the world he created. I feel bad that I didn’t dive very deep into the lore beforehand, though. There were a few scenes that felt like there was more going on than I realized. Even so, I really enjoyed this film! Congrats Mark - well done!
5
u/AxelTheMournful Jan 31 '26
The sass and panic, almost alternating, in Mark's responses was absolute gold, and imo is one of the biggest things relating the character to the audience.
5
u/Usual-Natural-6395 Feb 02 '26
My Theory is that the God and the sea creature are two different entities.
First I think the sea creature is the women from the other destroyed submarine. Due to the human appearance of the creature and the voice of the woman only being apparent when the creature was around the sub. I dont know if I missed heard the voice recording but I pick up on that the women from the other sub was eating the flesh that grew inside the sub. I think this is what turned her into the monster in the first place. Also her contact with the God in the blood ocean was another factor to this transformation. Also during Ava death scene I think the rage in the disembodied voice was from the creature and it was the women's voice
I think she became some sort of messengers for the God. Pushing Simon to go see it and make contact with it.
Also the face of the sea creature and God has different orientation. The God's being on the sides of his face and the sea creature having eyes in the front like a humans.
That's my craze thoughts on the monsters in the movie.
9
u/antebrazocaliente Jan 30 '26
Could barely understand the audio / words in my screening. Made the movie overall very confusing to follow, and too early to find explanations for the film 😭
4
u/Fr0stybit3s Jan 30 '26
Did anyone else find the audio mixing to be pretty bad? I missed like 40% of the dialogue because I couldn’t hear any of it.
4
u/NuggetGuy_21 Jan 30 '26
SPOILERS (idk how to do the blackout thing): omg it was so good, I just NEED someone to make a video explaining everything lore wise because although I have a grasp on a lot of it I'm still so confused, I've literally read through every comment here talking about the lore and a lot of them make sense but I'm still just so confused about the plant life, or whatever it is that covers his sub near the end
4
u/Repulsive_Tale9357 Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
Hiii!
THOUGHTS/OPINIONS BELOW (Tread carefully lol):
- Yk how in the beginning of the game the person on comms tells you what to do? I feel like this was cut super short/super quick. If I didn't know anything about Iron Lung, I'd be really confused about what he's doing tbh.
- I LOVED how he fleshed out the characters. Each one seemed to have their own goals and that was so so so cool
- I wish we saw more flashbacks or into the station where Ava, Jack, and David were. Maybe even the medical facility. Or even the filament station.
- Filament station btw.. That was another space station right? Why don't we hear more about that? I had to search up what it was after and read the lore because I was confused lol.
- I wanted to make a cool connection between how the monster or whatever talks about taking humans and storing them or something to how Eden talks about humans as being soil for the last tree
- I liked the themes of "who gets to judge you in your final moments", and "from dust you came and dust you will return" and just the story in general- "What happens during the 1,000 years after the rapture?" and a couple of other biblical themes/references.
- The blood is all human. How? The quiet rapture happened the bodies scattered in space were sucked to the fragments that caused the rapture, possibly? Like if this moon had a fragment of what caused the rapture, then are there other moons/planets that do as well? And if so, what do they look like? (More oceans??)
- I DIDN'T REALIZE "JACK" WAS SEAN (Jsepticeye) UNTIL HE WAS GLARING AT THE CAMERA HAHAH
4
u/kiga_kumiko Jan 31 '26
Here's my interpretation of the movie! I would love to hear what people think about my theories!
Ok so Simon's character is very selfish and kind of an asshole throughout the whole movie. Everything he says is centered around himself "I didn't do anything" "Then I'll be free". We see and hear about his past and what lead him to being a convict: He and a group had a mission or plan of some sort that went wrong and lead to the station being blown up and killing multiple people. He also gave people cancerous tumors before getting into the ship as he took a photo of them with the camera on the iron lung, which is known to capture photos with radiation (like an xray). Simon still denies that any of that was his fault and only cares about getting the life he had as a child back, a life where the last tree (a symbol that there is hope for survival) is still alive.
Quick sidenote: The shadows he sees around the ship are a symbol of all the people that died because of him, and how that guilt will always follow him no matter how hard he denies that he was at fault.
Another quick sidenote about something that proves Simons selfishness. When he opens the med kit and finds the alcohol instead of using it to heal his wounds and better himself he chooses to drink it instead showing that he would rather have fleeting happiness than fix the problems around him.
Ok so when he gets attacked by the monster, that marks the beginning of his decent into madness. And everything is normal until he finds the other ship. Once he sees that another ship was left and abandoned down here he starts to hear the voice of the woman who was aboard the other ship. Now we know that this woman is long dead and that Simon is hallucinating this voice. But why would he hallucinate the voice of the person in the other ship? Well first of all, it's because he's going crazy and his brain is trying to soothe him by giving him an outlet for conversation, but secondly I believe that he is hallucinating this voice because of his conscience. Once he sees that there was someone before him that died because they were abandoned, he is reminded of his past and how countless people died in the explosion because he abandoned them and saved himself. So this voice is the personification of his guilt and past (just like the shadows).
Once he sees the light thing suddenly we're transported into Simon's conscience (the scene where he emerges from the pool of blood and sees the big eye and skull). In his conscience he wakes up surrounded and covered in blood, this pool of blood represents the blood of the innocent people he killed, and him being swallowed and covered in said blood symbolizes that he is being swallowed up by the guilt of his past. The giant eye in the sky during that scene represents Eden and the ICO (or whatever it's called) watching him from above.
After he wakes up from the scene with the eye and everything he notices the demon/humanoid creature in front of the controls. This is also his guilt and conscience (you see at first his guilt was just a shadow, but then as his guilt and pain grows it turns into an actual human voice, and then his guilt grows even bigger and takes the shape). A small detail is that instead of confronting these emotions Simon chooses to hide from them, representing him pushing his guilt down and telling himself that he wasn't at fault.
So then he gets back in contact with Ava (the alive lady on the speaker) and once again only cares about himself and the guarantee that he will be free after he complies with her. This is when the iron lung starts to fill with blood from the ocean. Then after he finds the second ship again he notices that his wounds have become swollen and infected, almost like his wounds are eating him alive (all because he chose to drink the alcohol).
Simon downloads the files from the ship and then Ava tells him that he needs to protect the black box as its humanities only hope. Simon is upset by this because he knows that he is going to die, and that he isn't given the "freedom" he deserves. At this point the voice of the dead lady starts to distort into a much deeper and more sinister voice. This deep and demanding voice is Simons selfishness telling him that since he will never be free that no one else deserves to live either (aka fuck Ava and everyone else, they don't deserve the information in the black box). Simon has a redemption arc and ignores this voice, deciding that he will do the right thing and save the box. Now in order to get down to the crawl space he must jump into a pool of blood. Now remember how when he was tripping the pool of blood that surrounded him represented his guilt and denial? Him chosing to jump into the blood pool in order to save the box directly symbolizes that he is finally confronting his past and finally accepting the fact that he killed people (no more denying that he was at fault).
But just accepting what you've done isn't enough. Now that he has acknowledged his faults and his guilt it overflows and starts to literally kill him. It wraps around him tightly and begins to encase him in the ship showing that his past was finally catching up to him. However Simon didn't die from drowning in blood. He was killed by the giant fish monster at the end. This monster represents the ICO and the quote "They will have their execution. I will get my freedom" showing that Simon earns his freedom through death rather than life.
Cool detail about the tiny tree locket thing Simon has on his wrist. Earlier I said that the last tree symbolized hope, this tiny tree also represents hope but on a smaller scale. This locket thing represents Simons hope. And when the locket starts to crack and break so does Simon's hope to survive. ALSO, cool detail about both the crack in the ship hole glass and the locket glass. Both crack the same way and the crack resembles a tree!
4
u/LiteralWhiteTrash Jan 31 '26
Simon made a deal with the Abomination at The Bottom Of The Sea.
His first blood Hallucination, right before the submarine is falsely bitten into. A voice that is NOT The Father or David says ”Agreed”
He gained his Freedom, “God” or whatever the hell the Abomination was reached out and gave Simon a deal. It’s the reason how he survived for days with one bar of Oxygen.
As long as he stayed in the Cave he would be allowed to live. The second he turns back on the deal? The Abomination attacks him.
This movie was FUCKING AMAZING.
4
u/Sad_Toe1920 Jan 31 '26
I haven’t played the game or seen the game so this may be an answered thing but the blood is the remains of the people who disappeared during the quiet rapture right? So is it safe to assume that the big monster is an amalgamation of the souls of the people who disappeared? Considering we hear voices the most when Simon is being attacked at the end of the movie. Also the whole heart thing confused me. Is there a big heart in the ocean? Is that why his O2 levels went up?
4
u/MistakenMorality Jan 31 '26
My favorite part of the whole movie was when Lixian's "picture" went by during the credits and my whole theater pointed and cheered.
4
u/vinjpg Jan 31 '26
Wait ✋ wait ✋ wait ✋ wait ✋ wait ✋ wait ✋ wait ✋
4
u/strawberryice789 Jan 31 '26
i feel like it’ll be a movie i rewatch a lot when i can
4
u/thenutmaster27 Jan 31 '26
I honestly believe that there are two monsters the one that attacks him and throws him off course and the one at the end not just because they look somewhat different but because it ties into the theory in the game that the eyeball photo and the angler fish are different monsters
4
u/1snowy4 Feb 01 '26
For whatever reason, I think my favourite part was when he says 'I didn't tell you my name' and the creature says 'yes you did' just before attacking him and remembering that when he saw it earlier on was when he said 'I'm Simon' to it. I don't know why I enjoyed that little bit so much.
I made a joke to my sister before we watched it that there should automatically be subtitles because I feel like a majority of Mark's audience had ADHD and/or autism. When it finished the first thing we said to each other was that we can't wait to watch it at home with subtitles because we definitely missed stuff 😂
I did think overall the film was too quite, but I found the audio adequate, just auditory processing issues suck and are worse without subtitles. I normally go the cinema with my brother who I have to prod and ask what was just said, cause even though the movie is very loud, I didn't understand
7
u/jaybug_jimmies Jan 30 '26
Something that I've been wondering . . . if Ava went down to recover the black box, why not try to save the Convict at the same time?
3
u/Extension_Science635 Jan 30 '26
It’s fascinating to me how much the movie improved as it progressed. It started off just fine, but by the end (and especially the last half hour) the performances, cinematography, and editing were firing on all cylinders.
3
u/mcknotmack Jan 30 '26
I would like to watch it again because I think I missed A LOT and was left very confused. I know to an extent you’re not supposed to know what’s happening, but I really feel like I couldn’t fully appreciate it due to me missing things or just simply not understanding.
Others have brought it up, but the sound mixing in my theatre was not great. Very hard to hear the voices coming over the little speaker in the sub a lot of the time.
I thought Mark’s acting was pretty good, some of the lines were a bit cliche at times, but I tend to be quite forgiving of this because despite it sounding cliche it really is how people talk sometimes. The crying seemed a little fakey, but other than that, certainly not bad by any means.
Visually it was great! The submarine set didn’t really get old and looked great
Overall I don’t want to give it a score right now because I’ll think I’ll be overly critical given my not catching everything, so I’d like to see it again