Blade: The Iron Cross Trailer Continues The Puppet Master Series In A Sharp Way - Exclusive

Beware the Blade. 

After much anticipation, Looper can unveil in an exclusive reveal the first full-length trailer for Full Moon Features' Blade: The Iron Cross, a continuation of Charles Band's Puppet Master series about a crew of anthropomorphic marionettes brought to life thanks to an Egyptian spell. 

At the center of this upcoming spin-off is Blade, the hook-and-blade-handed puppet who gets a shock when an evil from his past emerges: the murderous Nazi and maddest scientist in the Third Reich, Dr. Hauser (Escape from Tomorrow's Roy Abramsohn), who has plans more wicked than anyone could have expected. In order to stop Dr. Hauser's deranged plot, psychic journalist Elisa Ivanov (Art of the Dead actress Tania Fox) bands with Blade, with the puppet serving as her "angel of death" as they venture to send Dr. Hauser back to whence he came: the fiery depths of Hell, of course. It's no easy feat, though, as the possessed puppet and the breathtaking clairvoyant must successfully defeat Dr. Hauser and his reanimated undead army. This fight is one for the ages — and one that could have a huge ripple effect on the Full Moon Universe as a whole.

The trailer for Blade: The Iron Cross teases a blood-splattered fright-fest of an epic B-movie caliber — just the kind of goodness you'd expect from Full Moon Features. Experienced horror creatives John Lechago and Roger Barron (otherwise known as Neal Marshall Stevens or Benjamin Carr) are the helm of Blade: The Iron Cross as director and writer, respectively.

Full Moon Features

Full Moon Features CEO Charles Band said in a statement accompanying the trailer drop, "The Puppet Master films are pivotal in the Full Moon Features legacy. Not only are they favorites among our fans, but they remain the most successful direct-to-video movie franchise in history and they have always been a joy for us to create. Especially during this uncertain time, we couldn't be more thrilled to give our fans the standalone Blade feature they have been waiting for."

Blade: The Iron Cross is set for release on June 26, making its global debut on the Full Moon Features channel and app.

Based on the trailer alone, one can easily see Blade: The Iron Cross is worth getting hyped over for its delightfully kooky horror story. A Nazi scientist stepping on a path of chaos and vengeance he fully intends to soak with blood? A journalist with preternatural powers employing the Leader of the Marionette Warriors to take down the Third Reich maniac? Promises of some high-stakes encounters — Elisa in what looks like a shock chair! Blade slicing and stabbing his opponents! Mutated men lurking about! — and plenty of gore to go around? Blade: The Iron Cross has all that and more.

But there's another big reason why Blade: The Iron Cross is such an exciting film. The movie marks the first-ever standalone in Charles Band's Puppet Master series — featuring the fan-favorite character Blade, no less. Created by André Toulon, the fictional French puppeteer who mastered the art of reanimation and used the Egyptian sorcery in his marionette performances to make his puppets move independently, Blade is the only Puppet Master character to appear in every installment in the film franchise. Now, with the impending launch of Blade: The Iron Cross, he's the first to receive his very own spin-off. That's pretty remarkable stuff.

Anyone keen on getting more horror movie treats in the future can look forward to both Blade: The Iron Cross and Full Moon Features' "Deadly Ten" endeavor. The studio is rolling out a collection of 10 feature films, produced one right after the other across the globe, that will premiere on Full Moon Features' streaming channel, its Amazon channel, and other digital platforms. Other entries in the "Deadly Ten" bunch are Subspecies V: Blood Rise and The Shadowheart Curse.

Additionally, Full Moon Features has begun crafting high-concept exploitation pics — including the successful horror satire Corona Zombies – under the social-distancing parameters of the current coronavirus. These films include "re-dubbed footage from obscure exploitation films along with new footage and existing news footage to create surreal and socially irreverent exploitation entertainment." The collection continued with Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King, starring zookeeper (and Joe Exotic's righthand man) John Reinke from the Netflix docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.

As a reminder, Blade: The Iron Cross will premiere exclusively on fullmoonfeatures.com on June 26.