Horror Recs: If You Liked Iron Lung
I've seen quite a few posts now where someone says that Iron Lung was their first horror movie, and that they're thinking about wading a little deeper into the ocean of blood that is this genre. So, off of my list of 300+ horror movies, I offer a few select recommendations.
If you liked the practical effects blood and grossness: check out The Void. This 2016 cosmic horror nightmare crowdfunded its creature effects for a little more than $80,000...and frankly they did miracles with it. Grotesque, horrible miracles, but miracles nonetheless! An additional rec, though for a much higher budget ($15 million in 1980), is 1982's The Thing. Practical effects and sticky, slimy, horrific monsters. Good stuff.
If you want another slow burn locked-in nightmare: watch Skinamarink. Instead of a grown man in a submarine, it's two tiny children in a house where all the doors and windows have vanished...and something is in there with them. Warning for harm to very small children. I recommend watching with headphones, in as dark a room as you can stand, with your phone out of arm's reach. This one was divisive in the same way that Iron Lung has been divisive: people called it too slow. I loved it for that exact thing.
Want to visit another ocean with big fucking fish monster? Check out Underwater. Survivors of an accident on an underwater drilling rig must cross the ocean floor with rapidly dwindling oxygen to reach safety...but, of course, they're not alone. I cried over a stuffed bunny rabbit toy in this one, y'all. For a slightly different take, watch Sea Fever. The crew of a fishing boat runs into trouble far out on the ocean. While it takes place predominantly on the surface, it still has the elements of ocean isolation and Big Fucking Fish Monster.
For an experience of apocalyptic space survival, try: Silent Running. This 1972 flick isn't really classed as a horror movie, but it has some powerful horror elements nonetheless. One man (and his two voiceless robots) drift in space in a greenhouse carrying some of the last of Earth's trees. The ending of Iron Lung reminded me STRONGLY of the ending of Silent Running. And for a very realistic story, watch the historical drama Apollo 13 from 1995. The tension in that movie is on a par with Iron Lung's. The potential apocalypse is going on in the background, because the movie is implicitly set against the backdrop of the Cold War and the less-than-noble reasons behind early space exploration.
And if you want to trip balls in a locked room: watch 1408. It's one man locked in one evil fucking room as he tries to prove that it's not actually haunted. (It's no spoiler that he's about to be proven violently wrong.) Strong comedy elements here, but they don't break the overall tension and drama. Never thought I'd be so freaked out by a mint on a pillow, but here we are!
If you're wary of anything, please do check the movie on Does the Dog Die?, a site that lists a huge variety of potentially triggering content (anything from Santa being spoiled to a plane crash). Better safe than sorry, yknow?