Blade: The Iron Cross Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		1.5

Blade: The Iron Cross Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 17, 2021

There evidently must be some kind of ardent fan base for the Puppet Master franchise, at least as evidenced by not just a glut of sequels and tie in properties, but releases like Puppet Master: Toulon's Ultimate Collectible Trunk Set, which as of the writing of this review is going for several hundred dollars. Puppet Master producer Charles Band may occasionally have become embroiled in controversy at various points in his career, as is discussed in passing in my relatively recent Tourist Trap Blu-ray review, but he also has the same kind of old school showmanship flair that used to be associated with folks like William Castle. Case in point: Band’s recent (and perhaps still active) project called Deadly Ten, which is summarized on a website devoted to the project as follows:

Beginning this summer, ten original new Full Moon features will be filmed back-to-back all over the world and fans will have an exclusive, all-access virtual pass to watch them being produced here, LIVE in real time. All ten pictures will then begin premiering exclusively on Full Moon Streaming and Full Moon’s Amazon channels starting in October, 2019. Get ready. The DEADLY TEN is coming.

As director John Lechago gets into in the commentary track included on this release, the "Deadly Ten" project was ambitious not just with regard to how many films were being produced under its banner, but how quickly they were shot. Lechago mentions five days for Blade: The Iron Cross, and within that context at least, the film is passably decent, though, as Lechago also gets into, this is the modern day equivalent of a quickie B-picture and needs to be understood as such. Blade: The Iron Cross follows in the wake of the so-called Puppet Master: Axis of Evil Collection , a trilogy of Puppet Master (adjacent?) films which includes Puppet Master: Axis of Evil, Puppet Master X: Axis Rising, and Puppet Master: Axis Termination. Now, I will probably surprise nobody by admitting I have seen none of these "prologues", but that said, I had absolutely no problem following the minimal plot dynamics of Blade: The Iron Cross, which pits crusading clairvoyant journalist Elisa Ivanov (Tania Fox) against a mad Nazi scientist named Dr. Hauser (Roy Abramsohn). Elisa is aided by noir-ish detective Joe Gray (Vincent Cusimano).

For a film whose PR touts the supposed marquee value of its title character, a little masked puppet with a slice and dice appendage, Blade actually is in the film surprisingly little. Instead, a ridiculous plot involving Hauser trying to animate quasi-zombies in his gonzo attempt to take over the world intersects with Elisa's curating of the kind of bong like device containing the last few drops of the substance which will bring Blade back to life. The fact that the closing credits for Blade: The Iron Cross name a green screen studio might indicate the basic production values of the piece, and unfortunately that's also the case with regard to Blade himself, who tends not to move very much, and whose mayhem is often suggested more than actually shown (there are a couple of gory exceptions, for those who demand blood and guts in their Full Moon Features features).

There are elements in Blade: The Iron Cross which might have been a bit more successful had the film approached its material with just a little more humor. Some of the performers, notably Abramsohn, seem completely aware of how silly everything is, and therefore play things to the veritable second balcony, but some of the others are definitely in "not ready for prime time" status. Some plot points, like having Elisa completely naked in the "torture chair" she's consigned to late in the film, are so obviously gratuitous that you just have to kind of accept them. The special effects other than the fitful movements of Blade, are often Grade Z level and are kind of like the 21st century equivalent of some old Ed Wood movies, which may in fact recommend Blade: The Iron Cross to some with more jaded sensibilities.

Blade: The Iron Cross Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blade: The Iron Cross is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Full Moon Features with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Shot on a shoestring budget over the course of just a few days, this features competent but never mind blowing clarity and detail levels. The special effects are often hilariously low tech, and some quasi-compositing looks pretty shoddy. Close-ups often offer actually quite nice levels of fine detail, as can be seen in several screenshots accompanying this review, but the entire presentation is kind of flat and textureless. The palette pops nicely, but a lot of the dimly lit interior sequences are on the murky side, and clarity is often affected by underlying situations like actual out of focus moments. There are some very minor signs of banding, but I noticed no other major compression issues. As an aside, scenes such as those seen in screenshot 5 might cause a moment of consternation, considering the film is supposedly set in the World War II era.

Blade: The Iron Cross Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Regular readers of my reviews know I tend to chafe at Blu-ray releases that don't offer at least one lossless track, so my score above for the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 tracks included on this disc should be understood within that context. That said, though, even the surround track here doesn't offer a ton of immersion, with a lot of the sonics resolutely anchored front and center. Dialogue, score and effects are all delivered with reasonable fidelity. There are no subtitles available on this release.

Blade: The Iron Cross Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Director's Commentary


• Deadly Ten Director Introduction (1080p; 3:41) offers John Lechago providing a brief overview of the Deadly Ten project in general and this film in particular.


• Highlights from the Shoot of Blade (1080p; 5:50) offers both stills and video.


• On Set with Tania Fox (1080p; 1:52) is anamorphically squeezed for some reason.


• Working with Blade (1080p; 6:00) features Tom Devlin and also looks anamorphically squeezed.


• Zombie Making (1080p; 8:00) features Devlin again in another kind of weirdly anamorphically squeezed presentation.

Blade: The Iron Cross Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Blade: The Iron Cross had been played intentionally for laughs (we won't get into the unintentional laughs this enterprise provides), I think it actually could have been a lot of fun. As it stands, it's kind of a lame attempt to keep a franchise alive and kicking, though those diehard fans of Puppet Master willing to shell out several hundred bucks for a collector's edition, as per above, might be interested in checking this out. Video is decent, and there's only lossy audio, but some of the supplements are okay, even if they have presentational anomalies of their own.