"... locations that weren't in ruins were more expensive..."

September 9, 2013 5:39 PM

B-movie legend Albert Pyun is retiring from filmmaking due to a diagnosis of "full blown MS".

Incredibly Strange and Ridiculously Cheap: Albert Pyun's 30-Year Career in B-Movies

Some highlights from Pyun's lengthy career:

• The Sword and the Sorcerer, 1982
• Alien From L.A., 1988
• Cyborg, 1989
• Captain America, 1990
• Dollman, 1991
• Nemesis, 1992
• Brain Smasher... A Love Story, 1993
• Mean Guns, 1997

posted by brundlefly (14 comments total)

I saw so many of his films in the 80s. I like his thoughts on working for free, so long as the studio or financeers would allow him to make what he wanted.
posted by xingcat at 5:55 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Sad news. I always enjoyed Pyun's movies in spite of their overwhelming cheesiness; Before infomercials took over the local stations, I remember whiling away many a Sunday afternoon in the late '80s/early '90s with one of his movies playing in the background. He was never one of the true genre greats, but one could always sense a playful and fertile imagination laboring under the constraints of a scarcely-adequate budget and not-entirely-passable acting.

Watch this scene from Pyun's Captain America, and tell me that there wasn't some kind of twisted genius at work there.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:12 PM on September 9, 2013 [7 favorites]

how did you leave kickboxer 2 off that list
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 7:05 PM on September 9, 2013

(wow... I never knew it was written by David S. Goyer.... weird!)
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 7:06 PM on September 9, 2013

Mean Guns is as amazing as it is terrible and it is incredibly terrible.
posted by haveanicesummer at 7:11 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

how did you leave kickboxer 2 off that list

I actually haven't seen Kickboxer 2. I know. I'm sorry.
posted by brundlefly at 7:13 PM on September 9, 2013

Aw, sad. I enjoyed what he tried to do with Lovecraft's "Cool Air". It mostly fails in a colossal way, but it was an intriguing take on the story.
posted by Iosephus at 7:24 PM on September 9, 2013

Cyborg was, I think, the only R-rated movie my friends and I ever snuck into. High on teenage stupidity, we loved it. Afterward we ran into a couple of female classmates who had just come out of Say Anything and made fun of them for going to see such a lame flick.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:28 PM on September 9, 2013

. 2 - The Perioding. This time, it's punctuation!
posted by Samizdata at 10:07 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

(and I ASCII HEART Dollman.)
posted by Samizdata at 10:09 PM on September 9, 2013

I remember renting Sword and the Sorcerer for a sleepover when I was 11. Such a weird movie, especially the ripping out of hearts and that sword with the projectile blade.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:52 PM on September 9, 2013

But wait, what does this mean for Red Moon, the sequel to Tales of an Ancient Empire?
Because, I'll tell you, fucking Tales of an Ancient Empire was half a movie, and I demand the other half.

I assume it was shot, and Kevin Sorbo wouldn't be involved in anything so shoddy as to shoot half a film.

(Disclaimer: I no longer remember what the cliffhanger was).
posted by Mezentian at 2:09 AM on September 10, 2013

Fuck MS. Long live cheese. All hail the king of the cheap and prolific.

Also, wow, I'd forgotten about Dollman.
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:55 AM on September 10, 2013

Huh, as someone commented in the comments to that Captain America vid linked by Strange Interlude, Cap was played by none other than Matt Salinger.... Son of J.D. Salinger.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 9:41 AM on September 10, 2013 [2 favorites]