Albert Pyun is dying,

[Rev. Powell]

Albert Pyun (Sword and the Sorcerer, Alien from LA, Cyborg, and 49 other b-movies) is at death's door. He's in hospice right now. Fans are paying tribute to him on Facebook while he can still be appreciated:

https://www.facebook.com/ccurnan/posts/pfbid0VGQMJiYM9z85UtfntnsmJh1A7g1RXywMh572byLTVMqnLW3ZTAsrQ7jPk2n4cafbl

[Alex]

Sad news. I hope his passing is peaceful.

[Morpheus, the unwoke.]

I wasn't familiar with the name but looked him up on IMDb. Definitely a legend. He certainly accomplished a lot in his chosen field, I remember seeing several of his movies on cable  as a kid. May summerland, heaven or some other good place welcome him.

[Neville]

I'm sad to hear this and hope, just like Alex does, that his final moments are peaceful.

However, I also think we shouldn't be tempted to think of him as a great director or re-appraise his body of work. While he made his share of decent B-movie fare -I'm thinking "Mean Guns" and "Post-mortem"-, the word that most often comes to my mind when I think of him and his movies is "fraud". I mean, most filmmakers wouldn't have the nerve to present stuff like "Adrenalin" or "Omega Doom" as finished movies, and his IMDB profile is packed with titles that nobody has the guts to distribute, like "Road to Hell" or "Cyborg Nemesis: The Dark Rift". And if you noticed the quality of some of his films that actually got distributed -like all those "Nemesis" sequels starring Sue Price- you have to imagine how he managed failed to reach even those standards.

[Rev. Powell]

I'm sad to hear this and hope, just like Alex does, that his final moments are peaceful.

However, I also think we shouldn't be tempted to think of him as a great director or re-appraise his body of work.

Well, there is a reason I posted this in the "bad movies" section instead of the "good movies" section. 

Pyun is no genius, for sure. In fact, he's a hack. But his persistence, at least, is admirable. For thirty years, he gave the people what they wanted: cheap, exploitative entertainment.

[claws]

But his persistence, at least, is admirable.

Pyun always wanted his director's cut version of Cyborg (1989) to be seen, which was first called Slinger. Pyun hooked up with another hack, German blu-ray producer Oliver Krekel, who is known and hated for slathering his blu-ray releases with DNR.

Krekel simply ripped the American blu-ray release of Cyborg and Pyun spliced in his low quality Slinger footage. It was sold as a "legit" release in Germany. I think it is remarkable that both never got charged for copyrights by Cyborg owner MGM.

[Neville]

From today's headlines:

Albert Pyun, Cult Filmmaker Behind 'Cyborg,' 'Nemesis' and 'Captain America,' Dies at 69

[claws]

RIP

[FatFreddysCat]

That's a bummer. R.I.P. sir.

I just revisited his "Captain America" within the past year or so. You can tell that they burned up most of the budget on the first 20 minutes but it wasn't nearly as terrible as some make it out to be.

[chainsaw midget]

That's a bummer. R.I.P. sir.

I just revisited his "Captain America" within the past year or so. You can tell that they burned up most of the budget on the first 20 minutes but it wasn't nearly as terrible as some make it out to be.

I thought it was decent enough.  Not great, but enjoyable.