R.I.P.: Albert Pyun, Cyborg and Nemesis director, dies

Last Updated on November 28, 2022

Albert Pyun, the director behind cult favorites like Cyborg, Nemesis and The Sword and the Sorcerer, has passed away. He was 69.

Pyun’s wife, producer Cynthia Curnan, posted on her Facebook, “Albert Pyun passed away Saturday, November 26, at 5:50 pm. I sat with him for his last breath that sounded like he was releasing the weight of the world.”

Pyun had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and his health had been on the decline for some time. Earlier this month, Curnan posted, in part, the following as a call to all fans: “Albert took another downturn. I could tell he feared going down again. He was working too feverishly. I asked ‘What’s the rush?’ He said ‘If I stop, that’s it.’…Please write a message to him for me to read. A personal message from you to him will make him really happy. They think he does not have much time left.”

Albert Pyun’s prolific career saw him emerging in that fateful year of 1982 with The Sword and the Sorcerer and ended up churning out around 50 movies in less than four decades. The Hawaiian-born director was known for his low-budget genre flicks, with titles like Radioactive Dreams and Alien from L.A. Pyun also proved a vital figure in the Kickboxer and Nemesis franchises, directing the first four in that series, and later a crossover with his own Cyborg (1989). According to IMDb, Albert Pyun was attached to further installments Cyborg: Rise of the Flesheaters and The Kickboxer: Algiers. Key genre studios Pyun worked under include The Cannon Group and Full Moon Features.

And who could forget the proto-Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Captain America, which was included in our Awfully Good series.

What is your favorite Albert Pyun movie? Pay your respects to the late director below.