Lea Thompson Action Hero

(Photo: wenn) Don't Mess with Lea Thompson! She's a butt-kicker. For her straight-to-video release, "Exit Speed," she did most of her own stunts. And boy oh boy was it a physical role.

Thompson plays a mom of two, who fights a crazed motorcycle gang bent on killing her; a big change-up from her "Caroline in the City" series.

She did most of her own stunts, which meant she took some knocks. Thompson fell bruising her hip. But that earned her points with the crew. Lea tells RadarOnline.com exclusively, "The next day you go, "Look at my bruise!' and everybody goes, 'Ooh!' and then you feel like you're really cool."

There were scary moments though. In one sequence Thompson was supposed to try and suffocate one of the female bikers. She was terror-stricken thinking she'd actually gone too far. "I said, 'I can't remember if I almost strangled her of not.' They said, 'Don't worry about it.' She seemed cool with it. We had barbwire everywhere and, ugh, blood!"

"Exit Speed" is on store shelves today.