Entertainment
New Sci-Fi Movie Explores An Alien Moon, Submerged In 80,000 Gallons Of Blood
By Chris Sawin
| Published
After the Quiet Rapture wiped out stars and entire planets, only those on space stations and starships survived. As humanity expanded into space, it neglected the value of what it already had.
The Consolidation of Iron (C.O.I.) now controls what remains of civilization. Criminals have the opportunity to repay their crimes by partaking in obligatory service regarded as useful to the collective. One such convict (Markiplier) is welded inside of an experimental submarine and forced to explore an ocean of human blood on an uninhabitable moon. His mission is to retrieve a sample from a strange skeleton on the ocean floor. Unfortunately for him, he’s not alone.
The Origins Of Iron Lung
Iron Lung is based on a submarine simulation horror game from 2022, developed and published by David Szymanski. YouTuber Mark Fischbach, aka Markiplier, known for his “Let’s Play” videos of indie horror games, writes, directs, edits, executive produces, and stars in the film adaptation. The film was self-financed by Markiplier and released to over 4,100 theaters with no official distributor. Iron Lung is a film fueled by Markiplier’s YouTube popularity and fan anticipation.
Markiplier has starred in interactive YouTube films like A Heist with Markiplier and In Space with Markiplier, but Iron Lung is his first full-length theatrical film. Unlike other single-character films such as Moon, Buried, and Gravity, Iron Lung struggles with pacing; its two-hour runtime mostly trudges along, with hallucinations and vulgar ramblings being the only payoff until the bloody floodgates open during the last half hour.
Slow Pacing Until A Last Minute Blood Deluge
The film utilizes 80,000 gallons of fake blood, beating The Evil Dead (2013) for most used in a horror film, but, aside from one hallucination, Iron Lung doesn’t use it until the final moments. The pacing drags, but the film thrives on Markiplier’s constant vulgarities, thrashing inside a rusted sardine can, breaking equipment, scribbling maps, and getting tossed around.
Iron Lung dips into body horror late; the ever-present sea creature adds tension, and a standout hallucination design is glimpsed for only five seconds. Still, it feels like it takes forever to reach those moments.
Markiplier’s performance is decent enough to keep the film interesting. His character is going through it as he experiences panic and anxiety attacks, is freaking out at the thought of dying in an ocean of blood or being eaten by what looks like a giant, blood-swimming moon fish with sharp teeth, and gets injured so often that his head injuries make reality and imagination one and the same. His performance reeks of desperation and proving to everyone that he didn’t destroy Filament Station, the crime for which he went to prison.
Markiplier’s portrayal of anger, fear, and confusion is all top tier, but he comes up short when it comes to crying. The sorrow is there on his face and in his line delivery, but the tears never come.
Inventive Cinematography And Limited Lighting
Cinematography in Iron Lung, by Philip Roy, features inventive elements. The perspective inside the bag, as the convict (his name is revealed later) examines instructions on operating the sub, is a notable shot. The film frequently conveys the confined space as more complex than it appears.
Blood and condensation dripping down the sub’s interior evoke the image of an expired organ reviving. However, the introduction of blood impacts the clarity of the camera work. Limited lighting and unstable camera movements make distinguishing events in the final scenes of excessive blood difficult.
Inescapable, Claustrophobic Confinement Hinting At The Unknown
As a first-time filmmaker, Markiplier shows significant potential, especially in the horror genre. Iron Lung’s strongest asset is its sense of inescapable, claustrophobic confinement, with hints of the unknown swimming in human blood and pounding on the hollow walls as a conflicted helmsman is legitimately trapped inside.
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.
Entertainment
Tense Survival Thriller Pushes Suspense Into Extreme New Heights
By Robert Scucci
| Published
I can finally end my search for an action adventure thriller set entirely in a hot air balloon after watching 2019’s The Aeronauts. While we can get into the nitty gritty about how it’s “based on true events,” as depicted in the 2013 Richard Holmes book Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air, anybody with access to Wikipedia can do that. Instead, let’s talk about the film itself. Since we’re ultimately dealing with a fictional piece of cinema inspired by multiple real-life balloon ascents, it’s all but expected that creative liberties are taken, and composite characters are stitched together from their historical counterparts for the sake of a cleaner, more dramatic story.
The Aeronauts, like most films that carry the biographical label, is no exception. As long as you’re not treating it like a history lesson, it’s well worth your time for the visuals and sheer level of suspense alone. I never thought a movie about a giant balloon could be this intense, but here we are, watching two deeply committed people float through the troposphere without even packing proper winter coats.
Floating High And Above
Set in 1862 London, The Aeronauts centers on scientist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) and balloon pilot Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones). James believes that ascending to unprecedented heights will allow him to study atmospheric patterns in a way that could eventually make weather prediction possible. When the Royal Society refuses to take him seriously enough to fund the project, he turns to Amelia, whose skill and nerve make the entire expedition feasible. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn about the political resistance and personal motivations surrounding the journey, but that groundwork is not the main reason you’re here.
The real spectacle unfolds once James and Amelia leave the ground, rising beyond 30,000 feet and shattering the standing record for balloon travel. Completely devoted to his research, James pushes forward as Amelia repeatedly urges him to descend. Awestruck by the vast skyscape around them, James loses track of the balloon’s physical limitations and just how drastically the temperature has dropped while he continues taking notes and running tests.
When it becomes clear they’ve gone far too high for their own good, Amelia takes decisive action after recognizing the signs of James’ worsening hypoxia. That plan immediately falls apart when she realizes the gas release valve at the top of the balloon has frozen shut. Reduced to a speck drifting through the sky, Amelia braves brutal conditions in her attempts to bring both of them back to land. The elements are not on her side, and she soon begins suffering from frostbite as well. With their lives and James’ research hanging in the balance, every split-second decision carries real consequences, and the margin for error disappears fast.
Stunning Cinematography All Around
While the flashback sequences in The Aeronauts are necessary for context, they lean into familiar tropes tied to dangerous missions. Both characters are haunted by their pasts and repeatedly revisit traumatic moments while grappling with their present situation. If I’m being completely honest, I have a hard time taking people in top hats seriously, so these scenes occasionally play as unintentionally funny for me. I fully recognize that I might be a sample size of one here, and your mileage may vary.
What truly impressed me were the sequences that take place inside and around the balloon itself. The horizon, the clouds, and even butterflies drifting through air currents at what were once unheard-of altitudes are the real draw of The Aeronauts. Ice crystallizing across the balloon as Amelia struggles with the frozen gas valve, along with wide shots that emphasize how small she and James are against the open sky, are genuinely striking. The storms that threaten to consume them as they push higher in the name of science add another layer of tension, made all the more effective by how grounded and tactile everything looks.
It’s safe to assume The Aeronauts received a healthy dose of VFX in post-production, but it’s difficult to spot while watching. The visuals feel real and cohesive, creative liberties with characterization aside, and the result is an immersive experience even from your couch. If you’re looking to challenge your fear of heights, or you’re simply in the mood for historical fiction that focuses on discovery rather than warfare, you can stream The Aeronauts on Prime Video as of this writing.
Entertainment
The Long Lost Star Trek Episode Starring Milton Berle
Captain Kirk and his crew soon discover their advanced technology is due to cultural interference by a Federation scientist called Bayne. Bayne was to be played by the iconic and notorious Milton Berle.
By Saralyn Smith
| Published
Norman Spinrad thought the script he wrote in 1967 called “He Walked Among Us” had been lost to time until it showed up with an autograph-seeking fan at a convention. The fan scanned the faded script and emailed it to Spinrad, who has published it as an e-book.
Captain Kirk Versus Milton Berle
The script had the Enterprise encountering a primitive race called the Jugali, who used technology that should have been well beyond their ability to develop. Captain Kirk and his crew soon discover their advanced technology is due to cultural interference by a Federation scientist called Bayne. Bayne was to be played by the iconic and notorious Milton Berle.
Bayne had good intentions, but as things often do in science fiction, those good intentions result in unintended consequences. Because of his interference, the Jugali begin worshipping Bayne as a god. Captain Kirk’s job is to get him out of there without further damaging the Jugali.
The whole Bayne is a god mess would have ended up being comedic, had the script made it on screen. But that’s not what the script’s writer, Conrad Spinrad intended. So he set out to sabotage his own episode of Star Trek.
How Conrad Spinrad Killed His Own Star Trek Script
By Spinrad’s own account, the screenplay was a victim of a sometimes terrible but integral part of big- and small-screen productions: the rewrite. Roddenberry originally commissioned a dramatic script from Spinrad that would feature Milton Berle (and an “overgrown backlot village set” Roddenberry was apparently fond of). Berle — who was commonly referred to as “Mr. Television” — was arguably the biggest television star in the medium’s history and was mostly known for comedy.
The Star Trek line producer wasn’t aware that Berle could also do drama, though, and rewrote Spinrad’s script into “an unfunny comedy.” Spinrad was so disgusted and ashamed of the rewrite that he campaigned against its production: “This is so lousy, Gene [Roddenberry], that you should kill it!” I told him. “You can’t, you shouldn’t shoot this thing! Read it and weep!”
His pleas paid off, and the script was never filmed, but that also meant he never received any of the residuals that would have gone along with a produced syndicated episode. Eventually, Spinard made at least a little money off his work by publishing the script for fans to read.
Entertainment
Extreme Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Will Either Cure You Or Break You
By Robert Scucci
| Published
One of the common pitfalls post-apocalyptic thrillers run into is trying to do too much at once, because there are a lot of angles to consider. The Mad Max franchise works because there is dense, folklore-driven worldbuilding that we’re made aware of as a smaller group of people navigate the wasteland looking for answers. The 28 Days Later films handle this well too. We’re briefed on what’s happening globally, and then things are handled locally.
2025’s Uncontained, despite the fact that it has a lot going for it, struggles with this balance. The result is a tonally inconsistent film that I wish stuck the landing better, because the potential is clearly there.
Found Family During End Times
Billed as a zombie horror drama, Uncontained tells a much more personal story through the eyes of Dan (portrayed by writer director Morley Nelson). Dan is a drifter who appears to be immune to the zombie virus that has decimated society, and he eventually happens upon a smart house occupied by two children, Jack (Jack Nelson) and Brooke (Brooke Nelson).
Their mother, simply billed as The Woman (Nicole Nelson), works for Homeland Security and is desperately searching for a cure, because Jack carries a latent version of the infection.
Dan, initially just looking for shelter, slowly becomes a surrogate father figure for Jack and Brooke. The Woman is also glad to have him around, mostly because he’s able to clock an intimidating amount of time on the treadmill that doubles as a power source for the house.
Jack handcuffs himself to the bed before going to bed, because he occasionally turns into a bloodthirsty zombie in his sleep and needs to wait out his episodes so he doesn’t harm his family. He also sets elaborate snare traps in the backyard and spends his time studying captured zombies, which initially disgusts Dan, who doesn’t yet realize that he and Jack have more in common than either of them would like to admit.
The B Story
Meanwhile, Uncontained introduces additional conflict in the form of militia leader Brett Carson (Peter O’Meara), who refuses to leave the property because he’s searching for his missing daughter, Melanie (Courtney Blythe Turk). This entire plot line feels largely unnecessary, as it neither helps nor meaningfully disrupts the dynamic inside the house that Dan and the family are occupying.
The limited value these scenes provide comes mostly from comic relief, particularly when Brett talks shop with a police officer who grows more visibly concerned with each passing exchange, as if silently thinking, “dude, you need to go home before you get killed.”
Speaking of comic relief, Uncontained earns genuine points for the dynamic it establishes between Dan, Jack, and Brooke, and The Woman. Dan has a gruff exterior and doesn’t look like the kind of guy who enjoys screwing around. But the moment Brooke offers him her hair clips, he immediately takes her up on it just to be kind. These subtle moments are both funny and disarming, and they say a lot about Dan’s character. The world is effectively ending, and nobody is obligated to be pleasant if they don’t want to be.
Uncontained ultimately leaves a lot on the table, and it’s because it tries to think globally and locally at the same time. Had the film committed to being a bottle story focused on the house and its occupants, I think it would have landed more cleanly. It simply tries to do too much at once, when the initial survival story is already compelling on its own. The moments I enjoyed most came directly from this central dynamic. The idea that an infected child could be the key to a cure while the family battens down the hatches and rides out the proverbial storm is strong enough without a side story pulling attention away from it.
Uncontained is streaming for free on Tubi.
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Tense Survival Thriller Pushes Suspense Into Extreme New Heights
