Blade the Iron Cross

Its very low budget and has some problems with time period accuracy in regards to props and other things, but if you have a serious aversion to these kinds of issues then I'm not sure how you're even aware this film exists. This has the Full Moon charm without the trying-to-be-funny-bad-cheesiness present in so much of their modern catalogue. The story almost feels like some offshoot of Reanimator with the animation solution being used by a Nazi mad scientist to experiment on dead humans. I was expecting much worse, but this is an enjoyable late night viewing & the short runtime works to the film's advantage.

This marks the 10oth Puppet Master film. Not sure why they would go the name change, it's not like it's going to do them any favors and itll cause this film to fly under the radar more than it would being labeled the billionth PM film.

This time around Elisa returns and has the puppets and is using her psychic dreams as a reporter in the early 1900s to help stop a Nazi scientist in America from reproducing the formula for the puppets and reverse engineering it for his army of zombies... Blade is the only puppet juiced up enough to help due to lack of the syrum.

Overall... it has some pretty bad acting, but it somehow manages to remain entertaining enough to watch. I wasn't bored or rolling my eyes, it is what it is and reminded me of some nostalgic effects not seen for a while.

Tania Fox is about the only decent actor in this, and quite stunning. I hope to see her in more PM films.

Blade: The Iron Cross isn't the worst Puppet Master film so far - that dubious honour goes to the absolutely awful Puppet Master The Legacy - but it's close.

Tania Fox plays psychic newspaper reporter Elisa, who teams up with cop Joe Gray (Vince Cusimano), and puppet Blade, to take on the Nazis, who are planning to turn the US population into violent zombies using a death ray.

With an approximate budget of just $90,000, The Iron Cross looks and feels incredibly cheap, with lousy special effects and some of the worst green screen work I have seen in a recent film. The acting is atrocious and the direction ham-fisted. About the only positive things I can say about the whole film are that Tania Fox spends quite a lot of the time naked and the runtime is mercifully short - just 70 minutes.

The next film in the series, Puppet Master: Doktor Death, is also very short, which makes me wonder just how bad that is -- guess I'll find out soon enough.

Would have been made in 1960 by Mario Bava Would have been a masterpiece

Special effects are very dated And acting amatorial A part from the main woman The idea and storyline is quite good

Might be a remake in future with bigger budgets

A psychic war journalist, Elisa Ivanov, awakens Blade and together they begin a bloody journey to stop scientist Dr. Hauser.

Director John Lechago delivers a hokey instalment in the vein of the Axis of Evil trilogy in terms of production values and tone. Like the recent Band Puppet Master productions writers Brockton McKinney and Shawn Gabbori offer more warped Nazi science, a punishing puppet and a few Axis staple zombies thrown in for good measure.

Lechago does his best with the budget but if less was more we'd have nothing on screen, so credit has to be given. Blade is just off, his look, his size etc. Fans honestly have a better looking Blade puppets in their collections. Clairvoyant crusader Elisa played by Ukrainian actress Tania Fox is notable and out acts the majority of the cast both dressed and undressed with ease. Both Vincent Cusimano detective and Angelica Briones' Gloria deserve a mention.

The solid music score by Richard Band is the main reason to watch this Puppet Master spin off. Ultimately, it's in desperate need of a high budget remake of the original to reignite the franchise. It's unrecognisable when compared to Puppet Master 1 & 2. A Blade film could have been special but this just doesn't cut or hook the mustard.

Overall, as part of Full Moon's Deadly Ten sequels it's a good effort given the budget but it's clunky, rusty and the WWII story is tired. It highlights more than ever Puppet Master needs a serious reboot.