Big Bad III: In CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE PYUN CUT, Love It Or Hate It, This One’s For The Fans
Captain America: The Pyun Cut enjoed its West Coast Premiere as part of the third-edition of the Big Bad Film Fest on the evening of Saturday, August 23.
albert pyun
Anerican Cinematheque Presents ALBERT PYUN REMEMBERED: THE KING OF CULT VIDEO Coming In May
It was last November when fans of cinema great, Albert Pyun, lost one of the most pivotal and influential genre indie filmmakers of the past century. Of course it remains to be seen when the remnants of the late director’s work will be posthumously completed as Pyun’s widow, Cynthia Curnan, and her team are overseeing things right down to the finish line. For fans within proximity of the Loz Feliz Theatre in Los Angeles, however, the ceremony will no less continue with a six-film tribute hosted by the American Cinematheque from May 7 to May 25. The American Cinematheque celebrates the life and career of Albert Pyun with a tribute series featuring one-of-a-kind cult classics from throughout his prolific body of work. Raised in Kailua, Hawaii, Albert Pyun’s first break into the entertainment industry came when the great Toshiro Mifune brought him to Japan as an apprentice on the set […]
In Memoriam: Albert Pyun (1953-2022)
If there’s one regret that I have, it’s never getting to meet legendary filmmaker Albert Pyun. The 69-year-old Hawaii-born filmmaker died on Saturday according to his wife Cynthia Curnan, after years of battling dementia and multiple sclerosis. Pyun rose to excellence since his 1982 feature debut, The Sword And Ths Sorcerer, and continued churning out low-budget films with brevity and success that made him a star in the independent film arena. That legacy ultimately continued with films like one of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s earlier breakout hits, Cyborg, the Matt Salinger-led 1990 rendition of Captain America, two DTV sequels to 1989’s Kickboxer starring Sasha Mitchell, and all four installments of the action-packed cyberpunk franchise, Nemesis, among others. He had directed over three dozen features, and even had plans to remake Cyborg at one point, as well as pay a revisit to the Kickboxer franchise that would have hopefully seen Mitchell back […]
Albert Pyun’s CYBORG Gets Full Specs From Scream Factory With An April Release
Shout Factory’s Scream Factory shingle finally unveiled the long-awaited specs for the Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray of Albert Pyun’s classic sci-fi actioner, Cyborg. The product was announced last summer prior to its date having been moved twice but the word now is that the Blu-Ray will hit online shelves beginning April 24, 2018 in the U.S. and Canada, with purchases available at the official website. Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as the future’s most fearsome warrior in this adrenaline-charged sci-fi thriller. Deteriorating from a deadly plague, 21st-Century America is descending into a barbaric nightmare. Only Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon), a beautiful half human/half cyborg, has the knowledge necessary to develop a vaccine. But during her quest to gather data and bring the cure to the world, Pearl is captured by cannibalistic Flesh Pirates who plot to keep the antidote for themselves and rule the world. Now, only saber-wielding hero Gibson Rickenbacker (Van […]
NEMESIS 5: Albert Pyun’s 90s Cyberpunk Sci-Fi Signals A Fifth Entry With A First Poster
The 1990s is a treasure trove of action titles that have stood the test of time. Multi award-winning producer and director Albert Pyun’s 1992 cyberpunk spectacle, Nemesis, is certainly a high mark for anyone who has followed the direct-to-video action genre with a proliferated use of a VHS player in the last three decades. Host to a dark, dystopian tale of survival the original casts actor and martial artist Olivier Grunner in the role of an LAPD hitman named Alex Raine who finds himself fighting for his own humanity. Actress and bodybuilder succeeded the franchise in Nemesis 2: Nebula, taking on a gender-bending version of the same role with a story set 73 years later when cyborgs have dominated mankind; Price continued onward for the franchise through 1996. Pyun had still been directing thereafter but ultimately took a turn toward retirement due to health conditions surrounding dementia prior to finishing […]
Production On Pyun's THE KICKBOXER: CITY OF BLOOD Pushed Back Until The Fall
It’s been a while since we last heard anything on director Albert Pyun‘s recent efforts pertaining to his upcoming franchise revival, The Kickboxer: City Of Blood. Last reported in January was addition of The Raid 2 co-star and actress Julie Estelle with returning lead, actor Sasha Mitchell for production to begin in Guangzhou, China with ACE Studios overseeing, although from the looks of things now, there appears to be a different story. Casting difficulties and declining health are the summation here for the stagnant pacing of the film according to Pyun’s Facebook post on Monday this week. As such, filming is being said to commence this Fall instead, whilst Pyun makes an effort to deal with his current situation; Pyun‘s health became an issue in recent years while battling Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that primarily affects the brain and spinal cord with a number of accompanying symptoms. It got so […]
THE KICKBOXER: CITY OF BLOOD Adds Actress 'Raid 2' Actress Julie Estelle
Cult director favorite Albert Pyun is gearing up to direct his latest return to the familar days of the Kickboxer franchise in a fresh new approach in The Kickboxer: City Of Blood with franchise star, actor and martial artist Sasha Mitchell back in the fray. It’s taken a couple of years with updates ever evolving, but fortunately movement is now being made and not only does the film have a start date, it also has a killer new actress on board. Pyun took to social media on Wednesday night via his Facebook page to express his thanks to co-producers Jenny Luk and Mike Leeder for their best efforts in helping the film move forward as things got busy this month for the director, while more importantly, Pyun officially confirmed the addition of actress Julie Estelle, best known for her iconic role in last year’s cult blockbuster crime thriller, The Raid […]
Pyun's 'The Kickboxer' Brandishes A New Title, Cast, Story Details And More!
2015 is going to be a year full of kickboxing cinemafare between two entirely seperate projects, including filmmaker Albert Pyun who has been pretty busy plotting his own return to the Kickboxer fray having previously directed two of the films from the franchise dating back to 1989. The nature of Pyun‘s return has remained in constant development for a while in making whatever changes were required for the project. Now, the director is taking to Facebook to shed some more light on the progress he’s making with the story, the characters and the cast and crew he plans on bringing aboard. Newly titled, The Kickboxer: City Of Blood, lead actor and martial artist Sasha Mitchell will star in a newly revamped story to portray troubled UN peacekeeper, David Anderson, forced underground through near century-old World War II tunnels to evading Myanmar’s secret police while protecting a young witness to a […]
THE KICKBOXER Reunites Pyun And Mitchell, Gets New Format, New Synopsis And Start Date!
Artwork by Glenn Cochrane It’s been well over a year and a half since filmmaker Albert Pyun announced a handful of details for an online serial return to the set with martial artist and actor Sasha Mitchell spinning off the Kickboxer saga. That was three months before stating his retirement from film after a 32-year long career upon being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the time, although thankfully, the award-winning director has since remained upbeat with good consultation on his health from doctors and the support of wife and business partner, Cynthia Curran. That said, previous activity on Pyun‘s Facebook page in the past year indicates he had still been brewing a few ideas with the intent on returning to the Kickboxer franchise in some capacity, long after directing two of the four films succeeding the first film with Jean-Claude Van Damme in 1989 from Mark DiSalle and David Worth. […]
Help Celebrate 'ROAD TO HELL' director ALBERT PYUN'S Career Through Indiegogo
After 40 long years of bringing cult cinema favorites like Cyborg (1989), Captain America (1990), the Nemesis Quadrilogy (1992-96), Heatseeker (1995) and Mean Guns (1997), director Albert Pyun‘s career is coming to a close. At age 60, the multifaceted filmmaker now suffers from symptoms of multiple sclerosis which forced his retirement from film, making his most recent project, Cyborg Nemesis: The Dark Rift, his last film with producer Cynthia Curnan. To celebrate his four decade career, Curnan is helping promote a new star-studded, celebratory event in Los Angeles to celebrate Pyun‘s 40 year career with a screening of his most-awarded film, Road To Hell. The film sequelizes the 1984 rock and role cult action classic, Streets Of Fire, from director Walter Hill, with actor Michael Paré reprising his role as ex-soldier Tom Cody. The film is seeking a large campaign toward funding further screenings in addition to Los Angeles, and […]
Albert Pyun Announces His Retirement From Film
In the past 24 hours, acclaimed action B-Movie director Albert Pyun took to Facebook to announce his retirement from the film industry, due largely to his worsening health conditions related to Multiple Sclerosis. With the announcement also came a few screening notices, in addition to confirmation that several of his latest films, including the upcoming sci-fi action adventure, Cyborg Nemesis: The Dark Rift, will be the final films of his career. I have long been a fan of Pyun’s work, having seen films like Cyborg, Captain America, and the first three Nemesis films out of four, Heatseeker and his second and fourth installations of the Kickboxer franchise, the latter with which in May, Pyun previously announced a developing webseries titled The Kickboxer, with Sasha Mitchell returning to star. Like with many action fans, Pyun helped mold my experience in action cinema and contributing to my fandom as it is today. […]
Albert Pyun To Revive An Old, Familiar Brand In THE KICKBOXER Webseries
Sasha Mitchell and Albert Pyun Well, this is sone pretty huge news! Actor Sasha Mitchell has not been in the limelight much as an action star since performing in the sequels that followed the Jean-Claude Van Damme actioner, Kickboxer in 1989, directed by Mark DiSalle and David Worth. A fifth film was made in the same line of movies starring Mark Dacascos in 1995 directed by Kristine Peterson. This week now, it seems a new report forwarded from City On Fire is breaking the story that Mitchell and veteran B-movie action filmmaker Albert Pyun, known for hit films like Cyborg, Nemesis, and Mitchell’s second and fourth Kickboxer movies, are collaborating to go the way of Kevin Tancharoen and David Sloan to develop a new webseries based on the hit film franchise titled The Kickboxer. Pyun explained on Thursday in a Facebook post stating the following: Sasha Mitchell and I are discussing […]