In the last few years, Hollywood has witnessed the rise of the YouTube filmmaker: directors who got their start producing short-form content on the platform only to make the jump to longer narrative features. In the last six years alone we’ve gotten Talk to Me and Bring Her Back from the Philippou brothers (known online as the comedy and SFX duo RackaRacka), as well as last year’s Shelby Oaks from YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann. 2026 has already continued the trend with the upcoming Backrooms adaptation directed by 20 year old Kane Parsons, as well as one of the highest grossing horror films of the year: Iron Lung, directed by Mark Fischbach, better known as the streamer Markiplier.
Adapted from the popular video game of the same name, Iron Lung follows a convict named Simon in an apocalyptic future where a cataclysmic event named the “Quiet Rapture” caused every star in the sky, as well as most planets, to vanish into thin air. Using an aging submarine, Simon is forced to explore a literal ocean of blood on an unexplored moon, only to discover that he’s not the only living creature navigating the depths. Self-distributed by Markiplier himself, the film was a box office smash, making over $50 million on a $3 million budget and once again showing the world the power of independent film — a power that the streamer is now looking to leverage into the world of film distribution.
