Masu Trout

(Full disclosure, I left a version of this post as a comment on Markiplier's Youtube channel. No idea if he'll ever see it – probably not, with the flood of comments he gets every day – but I just had to let out my feels.)

We watched Markiplier's Iron Lung on Tuesday, while flabbergasted and delighted that a local theater was showing it. I walked out of there totally stunned, with a 1,000 yard stare. What a massive accomplishment. What a thing to witness!

I started watching Mark's videos in 2015, in my mid-twenties, while going through some extensive shit irl, and like many of his viewers I've gotten so much joy, laughs, escapism, scares, and cozy safe feelings from his videos. The Outlast Let's Play was the first game I watched, it still has a super special place in my heart and I re-watch it regularly. (Outlast 2 can fuck off.) It was partly through Mark's videos that I realized I actually really like horror!

And now here we are, and I just watched one of THE best horror movies I've ever had the pleasure to see. And he was in it! And he wrote and directed it and poured his heart and soul into it for three freaking years! Honestly, I almost feel like I watched a close family member achieve this fucking epic feat. That's too parasocial, I know, but I caught myself grinning through the first few minutes of the movie like "that's my younger brother up there!" hahaha. :D

The scares were so good. The humor was understated and well-delivered in a way that 100% fit the atmosphere. The cosmic horror was executed so perfectly, revealing just the right amount of detail without giving it a fully visible face, that it felt like Mark's been personally studying Lovecraft in a dark cave for 100 years.

( Random favorite moments, cut for spoilers )

I am freaking blown away by how much I loved this movie. Like… what a masterpiece. I knew it was gonna be phenomenal, but I didn't expect it to rock my shit this hard.

Mr. Mark Iplier, the man that you are. <3 I am so extremely happy that I got to experience IR on the big screen! If I could afford it, I'd go see it a second time and a third. What a terrifying, haunting, and so very human work of art.