The first spin-off in the ‘Puppet Master’ franchise is a confusing mess that focuses on the wrong things and doesn’t give Blade enough to do.

The Puppet Master films have never gained the same level of acclaim as the Friday the 13^th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, or even the Child’s Play movies. However, they were a fixture of the horror sections in video rental stores throughout the 1990s. The killer toy movies wear their direct-to-video nature on their sleeves and they’ve been able to turn this ridiculous premise into a long-running series that’s now celebrating its first solo spin-off venture, Blade: The Iron Cross.

Let all of this be prefaced by saying that I am a tremendous fan of the Puppet Master franchise. I think the first five films have a ton to offer and that the second movie in particular is still one of my favorite campy horror films of all time. I have the Puppet Master comic books and have eagerly explored all of the extra material that’s been put out. These films are very dear to me and it’s genuinely impressive that this franchise has been able to put out a dozen movies and is still very much alive. The most recent Puppet Master film, The Littlest Reich, felt like a soft reboot and a return to form for the series, but Blade: The Iron Cross feels more reminiscent of the Puppet Master films at the tail end of the franchise that fully embrace the series’ Nazi imagery.

In many ways the Puppet Master films’ introduction and pivot towards the Nazi storylines has been the biggest mistake of the series. It’s led to diminishing returns and has become very repetitive at this point. Blade: The Iron Cross is a film that’s chronologically set after Puppet Master: Axis Termination, but is still decades before the events of the first Puppet Master movie. This means that the Nazi material is front and center, and the movie’s preoccupation with this instead of the puppets is what holds this film back in many ways.

Blade: The Iron Cross is directed by John Lechago (director of the Killjoy killer clown series), who’s a newcomer to the franchise, but he unfortunately doesn’t seem to do enough with the subject matter. This is not to say that the Nazi stuff can’t work, but it feels like the Puppet Master movies have already done the greatest hits on the topic (Puppet Master III is actually great). A Blade spin-off prequel that takes place right before the events of the first movie where Blade is just on some fun solo killer escapade at Bodega Bay could have been a lot of fun. People are watching this because they want more Blade. They don’t need endless backstory to set him up. Just get to the action and have a disposable body count.

Furthermore, Blade: The Iron Cross helps provide greater insight and development of Elisa Ivanov (Tania Fox), a character with psychic abilities and a psychic connection to Blade, who previously appeared in Puppet Master: Axis Termination. It’s technically nice that Elisa can gain some depth, but why not apply that same courtesy to Blade? Show him go through a few different hooks and weapons before he settles on his iconic one. Maybe he gets his hat from killing another puppet and stealing it. These are totally unnecessary ideas, but they at least focus on the puppet instead of devoting big stretches of time to bureaucracy within the Nazi regime and a newspaper company.

Blade: The Iron Cross indulges in many of the worst aspects of the series. This may seem like an aggressive take, but for a film that’s supposed to be a spin-off that’s focused on Blade, it really feels like it’s more a Nazi prequel for the Puppet Master franchise. This is arguably more Dr. Hauser (Roy Abramsohn) or Elisa’s film than it is Blade’s. Even the film’s subtitle, Iron Cross, is a reference to Hauser’s achievements. In this 70-minute movie, Blade doesn’t really get involved until over 20 minutes into the movie. I actually counted and collectively he only has around five minutes of screen time. How is that acceptable? When Blade does eventually show up to do something, you’re almost like, “Wait, why is this puppet interrupting Elisa’s story about making the front page and Joe’s journey to fight the man?” At times you honestly forget that this is a movie about Blade.

In the film’s defense, Blade’s kills are actually well orchestrated and they’re pleasantly grisly. However, the first one doesn’t take place until 30 minutes into the movie and even then Blade only gets to take out four people. They’re all great moments, but it’s seriously disappointing that murder set pieces for Blade weren’t made the priority for this movie. That’s really what people want to see here. The final set piece where Blade gets to let loose is encouraging, but it’s far little too late. There’s one scene in the film that feels challenging and different where Hauser burns Blade and then pulverizes him with a sledgehammer. There’s actually some weight to this and the ensuing consequences where Blade bursts out of Hauser’s stomach are entertaining, even if they don’t entirely make sense or feel earned.

It’s easy to hate on the whole psychic angle that he film pushes with Elisa, but that’s actually been apart of the franchise from the very first movie. I understand the film’s compulsion to want to engage in this pulpy grindhouse cinema where they have psychic warriors fighting against undead Nazis. That energy is a lot of fun and it speaks to the films’ eccentric personalities, but it’s still material that the movies have already done before and to better success. By the time it gets to all of the Scroll of Osiris shenanigans the film is considerably sillier with its magical influence than it’s been in the past.

Elisa’s psychic bond with Blade leads to some bizarre moments, but their connection is a major focal point of the film. There’s this weird Ghost-esque scene between Elisa and Blade while she sharpens his weapons. There’s also a strange amount of sexual chemistry between the two of them. Elisa engages in all sorts of gratuitous nudity and Blade is often there to “watch.” Almost all of Blade’s actions are tied to Elisa. The film is more a two-hander between them than it is a Blade solo film, to be accurate. She even psychically experiences Blade’s actions while he murders.

Hauser’s evil plan actually has some interesting dimensions to it, which makes it more disappointing that it ultimately devolves into lazy zombie hijinks. Hauser wants to create an army of undead zombies by injecting some of Toulon’s serum into humans who are at the brink of death and in exceptional pain. This ensures that they’re blank slates beyond the pain that they experience, which then allows the serum to take over and amplify that. There are definitely traces of Overlord here, but while that was a loving tribute to B-movies, this just is an unabashed B-movie.

What’s harder to reconcile is the whole His Girl Friday vibe that the film goes for with Elisa at the Daily Herald. It leads to some extreme whiplash from the Nazi material that precedes it. The film never fully rises to the occasion with the newspaper scenes, but they’re an interesting change of pace for the movie. It leads to this whole film noir riff with hard boiled detectives and smarmy banter that’s played oddly in juxtaposition with the Nazi torture material.

This strange Overlord/His Girl Friday hybrid ends up feeling the most similar to something like The Shadow, or even Dick Tracy at times, where these old fashioned crime serials mix with exaggerated enemies. Hauser’s final plan literally revolves around something that he calls a “Death Ray,” that will bring zombies to rise across the Earth. Blade: The Iron Cross clearly wants to invoke that kind of energy, but it just feels out of place in what’s supposed to be a spin-off film that’s centered on Blade.

Many of the ideas in Blade: The Iron Cross are mishandled, but this is also by far the shortest film in the series, coming in at 70 minutes, credits included. That’s even shorter than the abysmal Puppet Master: The Legacy, which is essentially a clip show of the previous films. This could have been an encouraging rejuvenating experience for the Puppet Master franchise, but instead it feels like a half-hearted whimper. This may be harsh, but a better film could have helped bring in new fans to the series, whereas this one feels like it could lose the remaining fans that exist.

Blade: The Iron Cross is definitely emblematic of the lower tier of the Puppet Master franchise. It may not be the absolute worst in the series and it’s technically a little less insulting than Puppet Master: The Legacy, but this feels like the death rattle of a corpse that’s been brought back to life with some half-baked resurrection potion.

If Charles Band and Full Moon Pictures hope to make more of these spin-offs (and I sincerely hope that they’re able to and still retain some optimism), they need to find some fresh blood and some new ideas. Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich was the right direction to push the series. Get back S. Craig Zahler to pen a Leech Woman or Six Shooter spin-off that doesn’t takes place in the 1940s and there could maybe be some magic again in these films. If not, Blade and the rest of his evil puppets are unfortunately going to rust and fade into obscurity.

‘Blade: The Iron Cross’ is available on VOD on Full Moon Features on June 26.