The Mortuary Assistant / Iron Lung Movie Adaptations

Anyone check out these two video game adaptations yet? Two very different production experiences. I've actually played The Mortuary Assistant game while knowing very little about Iron Lung and Markiplier before seeing the movies.

The Mortuary Assistant is the typical video game-spawned movie. It seems to exist solely to cash in on a pre-existing IP in a hot genre. The writing and acting are so on the nose as to be cringeworthy. While really nice to look at on screen, Willa Holland gives a completely uninspired performance. The biggest issue, though, is that the movie gets the feel of the game so wrong. "It knows the words but not the poetry."

Lost in translation is the fact that The Mortuary Assistant is a procedural first and a horror game second. Most of the IP's scares come from things barely glimpsed in corners and in backgrounds. Instead, the movie tries to brute force scary moments in your face. The movie spends about a minute only minimally setting up the critical embalming aspects before tossing the original narrative aside to invent a clumsy backstory for the main character, squandering the first act at great pains to unsuccessfully convince the audience why Holland's character can't just up and leave the mortuary.

Probably more out of obligation than fandom, the filmmakers cynically fling fans of the IP a few callback bones--ruining several choice moments in the process. There are also really strange production choices, like altering the layout of the mortuary, breaks in continuity, and most egregious: Reducing the lore of the game into a hasty, montage sequence late into the movie. The Mortuary Assistant has the feel of a movie butchered during the editing process and reassembled with a poor feel for narrative and pacing, with the original story elements begrudgingly crammed in between the director's poorly delivered scares. In short, there's nothing redeeming about The Mortuary Assistant above being a corporate product created by a group of craftspeople for a paycheck.

Iron Lung, on the other hand, is the polar opposite end of the spectrum.

I knew of Markiplier and the Iron Lung game before watching the movie but very little else. So I was very surprised at the YouTuber's acting chops on display. He carries the entire production on his shoulders in a movie that asks the audience to commit to an essentially one location, one-actor story. (There are some brief location shifts and minor character interactions, mostly unseen.) For what he accomplishes as a non-traditional actor and director, Markiplier makes The Mortuary Assistant cast and crew look like amateurs. To pull off the single-location shoot, he and his filmmakers are endlessly creative with camera setups and visuals. Though I haven't played Iron Lung, I had the feeling its filmmakers had great care and respect for the underlying IP and the audience--that they wanted to not only entertain but to create art at a high level (a high level for a relatively barebones budget).

Unlike The Mortuary Assistant, Iron Lung jumps right into the deep end and gets things moving, leaking its exposition in squirts here and there as the audience descends further and further into the depths of Hell along with the protagonist. Though its story isn't unique, especially if you've seen movies like Event Horizon, Iron Lung conveys it through a unique, steampunkishly claustrophobic submarine setting. If there is a critique to be made, the movie might have benefitted from a trim. At a slightly over two hour run time, it asks a bit of the audience's endurance. That said, Iron Lung is a rewarding watch and an oasis in a desert of comic book movies, sequels, and remakes.

TLDR: In the end, I walked away with a profound respect for Iron Lung and Markiplier and have thought about the movie for days after watching it whereas if I ever think about the movie adaptation of The Mortuary Assistant again, it will be too soon.