Mark Fischbach, known online as Markiplier, says his 2026 horror film Iron Lung used 79,800 gallons of simulated blood on camera, a total he calculates would eclipse the previously estimated record held by Fede Álvarez’s 2013 Evil Dead.
Fischbach laid out the math himself: the production ran two Honda WH20 pumps that move 119 gallons per minute each, and he used a conservative 80% of that flow rate — about 190 gallons per minute — over what he counts as seven hours of effective pumping, producing the 79,800‑gallon figure. He told reporters the blood was shipped in semi‑trucks, diluted before use, and the large flood shots were filmed at the end of production over the course of a week.
The sheer scale of the claim matters because Iron Lung was a modest $3 million production that has turned a sizeable profit, earning $51.2 million to date. For a film made and largely driven by its creator — Fischbach wrote, directed, edited and executive produced Iron Lung — the blood total has become a headline metric separate from box office, a cinematic boast about practical special effects and scope rather than ticket sales.
Fischbach says he ran the pumps for eight hours in total but counted seven hours for the calculation — 420 minutes times 190 gallons per minute — and that basins used in the sequences were filled, drained and refilled multiple times. He also noted the production preserved behind‑the‑scenes footage showing each basin filling, and that those clips underlie his estimate.
That detail is the friction point. The 79,800‑gallon claim is an estimate built from pump specs, selected flow rates, and time counts; the fact that basins were refilled and that Fischbach applied an 80% conservative rate to the pumps leaves room for variation. Determining whether Iron Lung truly bests Evil Dead depends on whether independent measurement or an industry certifier accepts the production’s arithmetic and the assumptions behind it.
Context sharpens the stakes. Iron Lung, adapted from David Szymanski’s 2022 video game, stars Fischbach as Simon alongside Caroline Kaplan, Troy Baker, Elsie Lovelock and others; Philip Roy handled cinematography and Andrew Hulshult composed the score. The film opened in theaters on January 30, 2026, and went to digital release exclusively on YouTube on May 31, 2026. The reported blood total, unlike the $51.2 million return, is a claim about a production record — a different category of achievement that invites technical scrutiny.
Past claims about cascades of fake blood have also been estimates. The running comparison here — Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead — was itself an estimated high‑water mark. Without a neutral audit of pumping logs, truck manifests, dilution ratios and on‑set volumes, the 79,800 number will remain a production estimate rather than an uncontested record.
What comes next is straightforward: the claim will stand in public discourse as a likely record so long as Fischbach’s calculations hold up under scrutiny, but it will not be formally certified until an independent party verifies the underlying data. Given the public release of behind‑the‑scenes footage and Fischbach’s willingness to explain the math, the figure is likely to be accepted informally by fans and many journalists — but not enshrined as an undisputed industry record without documentary verification.
