Albert Pyun

Though he frequently blends kickboxing and hybrid martial arts with science fiction and dystopic or post-apocalyptic themes, which often include cyborgs, Pyun stated in an interview that "I have really no interest in cyborgs. And I've never really had any interest in post-apocalyptic stories or settings. It just seemed that those situations presented a way for me to make movies with very little money, and to explore ideas that I really wanted to explore — even if they were [controversial]."

In late 2013, Pyun announced he had multiple sclerosis. In March 2014, Pyun's health had improved enough for him to film The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper. He also has dementia.

An out of court settlement was reached between John Laing and the Guam Economic Development Authority in May 2012 but up until October 2012 Laing has not honored the terms of that settlement. In late 2012 GEDA Administrator Karl Pangelinan reported Laing had made a $75,000 payment on the balance of the settlement amount and the balance outstanding was $75,000. GEDA officials confirmed the final payment was made in February 2013 bringing the matter to a close. Pyun was not involved in any of the legal litigation between GEDA and Laing.

Pyun's film Road to Hell won the Best Picture award at the Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival in Belfast in 2011. Later in 2012, it opened the PollyGrind Film Festival in Las Vegas where it won Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Song, Best Use of Songs, Best Use of Music, Best Visual Effects, Best Screenplay, and the Newcomer Award.

In September 2008, Pyun began production on Tales of an Ancient Empire. Shooting began on October 12, 2008. The film premiered at Louisville, Kentucky's Fright Night Film Fest. The film was eventually released by Lions Gate Films in January 2012 and stars Kevin Sorbo, Michael Paré, Melissa Ordway and Ralf Moeller.

In 2004 Pyun went to the U.S. territory of Guam and, along with film producer John Laing, convinced the Guam government to put up an $800,000 loan guarantee to finance their film Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon. In his effort to convince Guam officials to approve the loan guarantee, Pyun told them that he and his producer (Laing) had a "sterling financial record" and that neither he nor John Laing had ever defaulted on a loan. In 2006 Laing defaulted on the loan, and Guam lost its guarantee. Laing blamed Pyun for the failure of the film.

Pyun directed and produced Ticker for Artisan Entertainment in May 2000, which featured Steven Seagal, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Hopper, Jaime Pressly, Nas and Ice-T plus Chilli of the R&B group TLC. In 2002 it was among five films honored for sales by the Video Software Dealers Association in the category of Direct-To-Video/Limited Release By An Independent Studio.

In June 1991, Pyun's film Kickboxer 2, written by David Goyer (Ghost Rider, Blade, The Dark Knight), opened in theaters to mixed reviews.

In the early 1990s, Pyun made Nemesis with Olivier Gruner and Thomas Jane; Brainsmasher... A Love Story followed in 1993 with Teri Hatcher and Andrew Dice Clay; and Mean Guns with Christopher Lambert and Ice-T in 1997.

Other 1990s films include: Knights with Kris Kristofferson, Kathy Long and Lance Henriksen; "Dollman" starring Tim Thomerson as a 13 inch tall Dirty Harry type cop from another planet. Jackie Early Haley played the villain; Raven Hawk with Rachel McLish and William Atherton; Spitfire with Henriksen, Sarah Douglas, Tim Thomerson and Kristie Phillips; Hong Kong '97 with Robert Patrick and Ming-Na Wen; Adrenalin: Fear the Rush with Christopher Lambert and Natasha Henstridge; Post Mortem with Charlie Sheen; Crazy Six with Rob Lowe, Mario Van Peebles and Burt Reynolds; Omega Doom with Rutger Hauer and Shannon Whirry; Arcade with Megan Ward, Seth Green, Peter Billingsly and John Delancie. Pyun also made his only episodic TV work to date for the NBC/Columbia Tri-Star show The Fifth Corner with Alex McArthur, Kim Delaney and James Coburn.

Pyun's Cyborg opened as the fourth highest-grossing film in America on April 7, 1989. It eventually grossed $10,166,459 in the United States. 22 years after making "Cyborg," Pyun released his director's cut in 2011. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer re-release on Blu-ray followed in October 2012.

In 1989, Pyun made Deceit, and Captain America. A director's cut of Captain America was released in May 2011.

His second film, Radioactive Dreams, was awarded the Golden Raven at the 5th Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 1987. "Radioactive Dreams" recently screened at Exhumed Films' 2013 eX Fest.

With the success of The Sword and the Sorcerer, Pyun was attached to several science fiction projects in 1984 including Total Recall, to be produced by Dino DeLaurentiis at Universal Pictures, with a screenplay based on the Philip K. Dick story written by Ronald Shusett (Alien). At the time, William Hurt was attached to star.

Pyun's first film The Sword and the Sorcerer remains his highest grossing, eventually earning $36,714,025 in the United States. Opening on April 30, 1982, it grossed $4,100,886 which ranked the film second that week in America. Richard Lynch received the Best Supporting Actor Saturn Award for his performance as Cromwell. During the production of the film stuntman Jack Tyree was killed while doing a high fall stunt at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. While performing a 78-foot fall in heavy costume and makeup, Tyree struck his airbag off center, resulting in a fatal impact.

In the late 1980s, Pyun made Alien from L.A., featuring supermodel Kathy Ireland; the film was later mocked on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This episode was released on DVD in March 2013.

Albert Pyun (born May 19, 1953) is an American film director who made low-budget B-movies and direct-to-video action films. The Independent Film Channel said that Pyun "has carved out a unique niche as a director of low-budget, high-concept genre films starring actors past their prime", adding that "others believe this a charitable description for Pyun, who has also been derided as the new Ed Wood."