A Review of the Film ``Iron Lung''

Twelve or so years ago, I wanted to see what was so special about a video game, titled ``Five Nights
at Freddy's'', and watched some streamer play it.  It was nothing special to me at the time, but the
streamer apparently became more popular, because I kept hearing about him without so much as trying.
That streamer has now made a film, using his own money, and I like supporting smaller productions of
such things, so I chose to watch it with some acquaintances lately.  The film's website now follows:
https://ironlung.com

I fear spoiling this film's plot in no way, because there's very little of coherence to spoil.  This
was marketed to me as a horror film, but it's an esoteric manner of horror, and I found it to be not
scary in the way one usually expects of such.  I unfortunately missed what I believe to be the first
ten seconds or so of the film, the first time I've been late to see a film in decades, after hitting
almost every stop light on the way to the theatre; this film nevertheless begins with an explanation
of humanity's fall, after the planets and stars disappeared without cause, and the narrator tells of
a moon found, covered in blood.  A submarine, the titular Iron Lung, is shown lowering into the red.

I joked with those same acquaintances afterwards about how seeing that segment we missed wouldn't've
made the film more comprehensible.  The film's narrator is unreliable, in a bad situation he doesn't
understand, and much of the plot goes without clarification.  I knew this film would be a single-set
and single-actor affair in all likelihood, before deciding to watch it, and it largely was.  He goes
down in a submarine with his only instruments by which he may detect the ocean around him a four-way
sensing mechanism, akin to a radar but with flashing lights instead, and an x-ray device attached to
the front, with its button and slowly-fading screen at the back of the vessel.  A speaker with radio
allows him to talk to the only other characters in the film, mostly portrayed as disembodied voices.

The main character's a convict welded into the submarine, falsely told his is the maiden voyage, and
promised freedom if he obeys.  He comes across a large skeleton in the ocean of blood and is brought
back up; this is the only scene where other humans are shown, three, sans two brief flashbacks.  The
photography was nice, using the opened viewport with blood outside and I believe condensation inside
to obscure the scene and people outside.  Against his will, he's lowered down again, told to collect
part of the skeleton, but that never occurs.  The film uses slow and lingering shots, perhaps to pad
the runtime, but they could work as an artistic choice.  He slowly explores what little of that very
small submarine he can, and begins to hallucinate after days.  Made clear from the film's beginning,
there are large lifeforms living in the ocean of blood, shown indirectly at first, and more directly
later by foreboding x-rays, as the man explores an underblood cave system in which the submarine was
placed by them.  He is shown many times attempting to modify the submarine to better suit his needs,
mostly with much effort yet without much success.  The camera is almost always only inside with him.

The film uses very little computer-generated imagery, I believe mostly using practical effects.  The
scenes generated by machines are: the flashbacks showing the man as a boy; the accident making him a
criminal; a hallucination presenting the lifeforms as deities, while he stands covered in blood; and
the final scene with one of the lifeforms finally shown in its entirety, chewing through the vessel.

The climax of this film involves his stumbling upon a wrecked submarine holding valuable data in its
black box.  He's given credentials to his vessel's computer system so that he may copy the contents.
I liked the portrayal of a monochromatic and rather simple computer interface in this scene.  All of
the technology in the film is old, salvaged, and decaying, since mankind can no longer build with so
few remaining.  As the opening narration spoke, ``too few to rebuild, too many to feed''.  This film
ends with most of the cast dead, not saying much, and the black box successfully seen via spotlight.

I went to see this film without particular expectations, and it was fun.  I'd go to a second viewing
if it were still showing at my local theatre.  The film took itself seriously, I recall not a single
joke, which suits the tone.  I, so poorly, took a glance at a synopsis of the plot afterwards, since
I'd missed precious moments in the beginning, but without illumination.  I found it nice to watch an
esoteric horror film for which there'll be, likely, never a good explanation for some of its events.

The most erratic scenes feature multiple competing, disembodied voices, so this film is likely to be
better after the first viewing.  Perhaps more celebrities made by the Internet will follow suit, the
extremely low budget of this film which made multiples thereof should scare the larger film studios.
.