Albert Pyun
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| Albert Pyun | |
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| Born | Albert Pyun 1954  Hawaii, U.S. |
| Years active | 1982 - current |
Albert Pyun (born 1954) is a Hawaiian film director best known for having made many low-budget B-movies and direct-to-video action films. He frequently blends kickboxing and hybrid martial arts with science fiction and dystopic or post-apocalyptic themes, which often include cyborgs.
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[edit] Career
[edit] 1980s
His career has had a number of different phases. His early work in the early-to-mid-1980s was marked by imaginative, if uneven fantasy films such as The Sword and the Sorcerer, Radioactive Dreams and Vicious Lips. Radioactive Dreams marked a collaboration with John Stockwell (Blue Crush, Into the Blue, Turistas) who would go on to write and act in Dangerously Close (1986) for Pyun. Radioactive Dreams is also notable as the second collaboration with Oscar-winning Special Make Up Effects guru Greg Cannom (Dracula, Van Helsing), with whom Pyun would work steadily into the 1990s, and as the first film editing for Oscar winners David Brenner (Wall Street) and Joe Hutchings (Born on the Fourth of July).
Pyun's career took a slightly more mainstream turn with the acclaimed thriller Dangerously Close, which he followed with a romantic adventure film, Down Twisted, starring Carey Lowell, Charles Rocket, and Courteney Cox.
The late 1980s found Pyun making some of his most interesting if poorly-received movies, such as supermodel Kathy Ireland's acting debut in Alien from LA, a PG children's fairy tale, and Cyborg which starred, "The Muscles from Brussels," Jean-Claude Van Damme, then at the start of his career. During this era, Pyun made his three-day cult classic Deceit for $25,000. It is still consider one of his best experimental efforts. In 1989 he began the ill-fated Captain America which was severely hampered when the financing fell out. The film limped to completion a mere shadow of the film it was intended to be.[citation needed]
[edit] 1990s
The 1990s found Pyun moving from film to film with very little in the way of personal cinema. The exceptions were his groundbreaking and still-admired (1992) film Nemesis (film), starring Olivier Gruner, with a young Thomas Jane; his offbeat love story Brainsmasher... A Love Story (1993) with Teri Hatcher and Andrew Dice Clay; and Mean Guns (1997) with Christopher Lambert and Ice-T.
Having trained under the legendary Akira Kurosawa, he has been acknowledged for squeezing dramatic cinematography into otherwise low budget productions. Japanese superstar Toshiro Mifune and Kurosawa's cameraman Takao Saito were Pyun's mentors and it's clear his eye was trained by his experience in Japan. His most successful works include The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), Cyborg (1989), and Nemesis (1993). His low-profile 1985-movie Radioactive Dreams won The Golden Raven at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film. A few of his films have gained large, worldwide cult followings.
Pyun founded the Filmwerks production company in 1994, which he left in 1999. Although Pyun has been long considered a direct-to-video king, a number of Pyun's films played in US big-screen cinemas: The Swords and the Sorcerer, Radioactive Dreams, Dangerously Close, Down Twisted, Alien from LA, Cyborg, Kickboxer 2, Nemesis and Adrenalin...Fear the Rush. He's worked with an odd mix of stars, like Charlie Sheen, Rutger Hauer, Snoop Dogg, Ice T, Christopher Lambert, Teri Hatcher, Courteney Cox, Thomas Jane, Dennis Hopper, Tom Sizemore, Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Burt Reynolds, Rob Lowe, Mario Van Peebles, Nas, Natasha Henstridge, Big Pun, Fat Joe and Kris Kristofferson.
[edit] 2000s
The late 1990s through 2004 found Pyun involved in uninspired films and with a succession of new, but highly dubious producers. The quality of his work plummeted when he no longer worked with his longtime producer Tom Karnowski and cinematographer George Mooradian. In 2004 Pyun went to the US territory of Guam, and along with film producer John Laing, convinced the Guam government to put up a one million dollar loan guarantee to finance their film Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon. In 2006 producer John Laing defaulted on the film's loan, and Guam lost its million dollar guarantee. According to a 6/13/07 article in The Los Angeles Times, Laing blamed Pyun for the failure of the film. The fiasco is currently in litigation, both in California and in Guam.[1]
His latest project, the 2005 film Infection, used unconventional camera work and cinematography: 68 minutes in length, it is one single uninterrupted sequence shot from a surveillance camera position mounted inside a police car. It was shot in high-definition digital video and captured directly to a hard disk drive. The film won Best Picture and Best Director at Spain's 2005 Estepona International Film Festival and was acquired by Lions Gate Films for release on December 18, 2007. It also screened at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film to great acclaim. The film was invited to participate in more than 20 film festivals around the world. The title of the film was changed by Lions Gate Entertainment to Invasion so as not to be confused with an earlier Lions Gate release.
In 2005, Pyun increased his directing activity. He directed Cool Air and Bulletface in 2006 (winner of Best Experimental at the 2006 Northwest Projections Film Festival) and has directed Left for Dead and From Beyond so far in 2007. The resurgence might be due to the intense interest his films have recently received due to the Internet. His profile worldwide has increased dramatically since 2004, with Pyun being the center of discussion on many Websites and in the media. It's clear this has raised awareness of Pyun and his lengthy body of work. In 2006 alone, eight of his films were re-released, including his one romantic comedy, Brainsmasher... A Love Story. Projects in his future with such notable producers as Mario Kassar (Sweating Bullets) indicate a willingness to move up to studio budgets for the first time in his career.
On September 8, 2007 Pyun won Best Director for "Left For Dead" at the 8th Edition of the Estepona International Film festival of Horror and Fantasy. Victoria Maurette won Best Actress honors on November 1, 2007 at the Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre International Film Festival for her lead performance in "Left For Dead". On November 1, 2007 in Cape Town, Left For Dead received the Audience Award from the 2007 Horrorfest South Africa. The film was acquired for North America distribution in 2008 by Grindstone Entertainment, a division of Mandate Pictures.
On December 18, 2007 Invasion AKA Infection was released in the United States on DVD by Lions Gate Films. The film received these initial following reviews (from December 19 to December 26):
1. http://www.dreadcentral.com/node/25678 2. http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror_reviews_3240.htm 3. http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=dvd&id=13043 4. http://joblo.com/arrow/dvd_reviews.php?id=1806
"Invasion" opened at number four on the Rentrack rankings of direct to dvd releases for the week Dec 18-23. It was number seven the following week.
"Left For Dead" will be released in North America on March 4, 2008 via Lions Gate Films. Initial reviews of the film:
1. http://hometheaterinfo.com/left_for_dead.htm 2. http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/left-for-dead-review 3. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/film/1901
[edit] Selected filmography
- Left for Dead 2 (2008) (theatrical) (announced) [Director]
- La Matanza (2008) (theatrical) (in pre-prep for March) [Director]
- Sweating Bullets (2008) (theatrical) (in pre-prep) [Director]
- "Anomaly (2008) (theatrical) (in pre-production) [Director]
- Tales of an Ancient Empire (AKA The Princess) (2008) (theatrical) (shooting) [Director]
- From Beyond (2007) (theatrical) (complete) (Director)
- Left for Dead(2007)(theatrical) (complete) [Director]
- Bulletface (2007)(theatrical) (complete) [Director]
- H. P. Lovecraft's Cool Air (2006) [Director]
- Invasion AKA Infection (2005) [Director]
- Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon (2004) [Co-Director]
- Final Examination (2003) (V) [Producer]
- More Mercy (2003) (V) [Director] (uncredited) [Producer]
- Ticker (2001) [Director] [Producer]
- Corrupt (1999) [Director]
- Urban Menace (1999) [Director]
- The Wrecking Crew (1999) [Director]
- Postmortem (1998/I) [Director]
- Crazy Six (1998) [Director]
- Mean Guns (1997) [Director]
- Omega Doom (1997) [Director] [Writer]
- Blast (1997) [Director]
- Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996) [Director] [Writer]
- Raven Hawk (1996) (TV) [Director]
- Nemesis 4: Death Angel (1995) (V) [Director] [Writer]
- Nemesis III: Prey Harder (1995) (V) [Director] [Writer]
- Nemesis 2: Nebula (1995) (V) [Director] [Writer]
- Heatseeker (1995) [Director] [Writer] (screenplay)
- Hong Kong 97 (1994) [Director]
- Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor (1994) [Director] [Writer]
- Spitfire (1994) [Director] [Writer]
- Brain Smasher... A Love Story (1993) (V) [Director] [Writer]
- Knights (film) (1993) [Director] [Writer] (written by)
- Arcade (1993) (V) [Director]
- Nemesis (1993) [Director]
- Dollman (1991) [Director]
- Kickboxer 2: The Road Back (1991) [Director]
- Captain America (1991) [Director]
- Bloodmatch (1991) [Director]
- Cyborg (1989) [Director]
- Deceit (1989) [Director]
- Journey to the Center of the Earth (1989) [Director]
- Alien from L.A. (1988) [Director] [Writer]
- Down Twisted (1987) [Director]
- Vicious Lips (1987) [Director] [Writer]
- Dangerously Close (1986) [Director]
- Radioactive Dreams (1985) [Director] [Writer]
- The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) [Director] [Writer]
[edit] References
- ^ LA TIMES 6/13/07
- "[1]": Los Angeles Times article: "CAMERA, LEGAL ACTION! - The making of a Kung-Fu flick on Guam turns into court battles on both sides of the sea"
