I'm a big Fukasaku fan, but I've never seen Hokuriku Proxy War! It was his last gangster film, so maybe that plays into why it's so hard to find. Witzke mentioned Message from Space and Legend of the Eight Samurai as two of his weaker films, and I would agree (Last 70s to mid-80s Japanese film industry was god-awful), although his Samurai Reincarnation from that period is fantastic. Try to track down his Rampo adaptations, Black Rose Mansion and Black Lizard, they're really great and show off his range.

Regarding John Flynn, I think he had an interesting late-period career. He directs James Woods' in Best Seller, which along with Cop, might be my favorite back-to-back performances as a psycho ever. He also does these weird, terse direct-to-video thrillers in the 90s. Scam and In the Abscence of the Good are particularly effecting. It's disappointing that Deep Red had such a poor audience. It's been something I've seen a lot lately. Audiences expecting schlock, and unwilling to engage with the film on its own terms. I've had similar experiences with Mario Bava's films and Godzilla.

Really enjoyed the conversation about the homogenized nature of Marvel Hollywood films. It's really frustrating, because of the decline of the mid-budget picture in the 00s, science-fiction as a whole has mainly been contained to these ridiculously over-stuffed, mechanical blockbusters or indie films that are too lean for their own good.