“Crocodiles shed tears when they eat their prey. You have heard of these tears I am sure. But have you seen them?”
Since his debut in 1982 with the light-hearted sword and sorcery fantasy, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Albert Pyun has directed over fifty feature-length genre films. So to say that Pyun, as a director, was prolific is an understatement… Just like his cybernetic creations, Albert Pyun was a machine!
If you are looking for a subgenre of horror that emphasized graphic violence and shock value above all else, look no further than the Italian cannibal movies of the 1970s and 1980s.
Friends, Britons and fellow James Bond fans, lend me your eyes – I come to praise Sean Connery, not to bury him. One of the last few movie stars left over from the dying days of the studio system, and arguably the most famous British actor of his, or any, generation, Connery embodied the old Hollywood male lead aesthetic better than most of his contemporaries.
As you are no doubt aware, having found this particular website, in the late ’70s space was the shit. In the wake of Star Wars, numerous projects were green-lit, ranging from Ridley Scott’s franchise-launching Alien to the bottom-of-the-barrel Disney project The Black Hole. Saturn 3 was American-born, British TV supremo Lord Lew Grade’s attempt to cash in on the public’s new-found love of sci-fi. And, on the surface, its got a lot going for it.
Back in the late 80s/early 90s I was not allowed to watch the many horror films that adorned the plastic shelving of my local video store. Some might say that is wise parenting, considering I was only 5 or 6 at the time. But strangely action films were deemed ok to view (such as substandard fare from Cannon Pictures and Guild Video).
Let me just preface this article with the acknowledgement that I loved this movie way out of proportion to what it probably deserves. If you’ve seen it or do so in the near future, it’s a tossup as to whether or not you’ll feel the same way about it that I do. You might gag and roll around on the floor foaming at the mouth miming, “My eyes, my eyes!” But seriously, have you seen it yet?
Another movie that’s so good at being bad that it surpasses all expectations, America 3000 is the work of writer-director David Engelbach. You’ll join me if that name doesn’t ring a bell, as this movie was his single directorial credit.
