NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: 88 Films Blu-ray (July 2025): 88 Films have transferred Koretsugu Kurahara's Sex Rider: Wet Highway to Blu-ray. It is on a single-layered disc with a high bitrate. The 1080P image boasts rich, true colors that enhance the film’s moody palette of grays, blues, and neon accents, particularly in the rain-slicked highway and desolate lake scenes. Texture of Mina’s clothing and the reflective sheen of wet asphalt, are rendered effectively. The widescreen framing preserves the dynamic cinematography, from sweeping road shots and lake front to surreal close-ups, faithfully capturing its gritty yet lyrical aesthetic for modern audiences. The HD presentation is surprisingly strong - consistent without egregious flaws.

NOTE: We have added 54 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, 88 Films use a linear PCM dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original Japanese language. The score of Sex Rider: Wet Highway, by Tsutomu Sanada (Secret Wife,) sets a melancholic, nocturnal mood, with saxophone or piano riffs underscoring Mina’s emotional turmoil. Ambient sounds - car engines, water lapping at the lake, or distant urban noise - enhance the film’s immersive quality, while strategic silences heighten tension. The sparse dialogue in the lossless transfer is audible and clean. 88 Films offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

The 88 Films Blu-ray release includes a modest but insightful set of extras. The audio commentary by Asian cinema scholar Earl Jackson (Spectacle and Scrutiny: The Analytic Image in Japanese Cinema) and Jasper Sharp (Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema, The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film) is a standout, blending academic analysis with enthusiasm as they discuss the film’s place in Roman Porno, Kurahara’s directorial choices, and its cultural context, making it interesting for fans of the genre and 70's studio output. Ken Terawaki’s 10 minute introduction provides a concise overview of the film’s production and its road-movie influences. The stills gallery is brief, featuring promotional images while the trailer captures the film’s sexploitive allure. The booklet essay, “Sex at Speed” by Caitlin Casiello (focus on shifting views of sexuality in Japanese film from the 1950s to the 1990s, with a focus on B-films, sexploitation, and softcore,) offers a thoughtful exploration of the film’s themes and visual style, complementing the disc’s extras. Newly commissioned artwork by Silver Ferox adds a stylish touch to the package, appealing to collectors.

Koretsugu Kurahara's Sex Rider: Wet Highway offers a unique blend of erotic drama, surreal road movie aesthetics, and experimental energy. Mina’s (Mari Tanaka) actions - her illicit affair, the hit-and-run, and her subsequent choices - reflect a woman grappling with societal expectations (marriage) and her own repressed desires. The film presents her as both victim and agent, caught in a cycle of guilt and liberation. The film’s depiction of sexuality is relatively tame compared to later pinku eiga, but its focus on psychological rather than physical eroticism sets it apart from the genre’s more exploitative entries. Additionally, the motif of the “wet highway” evokes a sense of fluidity and danger, tying into the film’s surreal tone and its portrayal of characters adrift in a morally gray world. Ryo’s (Ken Yoshizawa) hippie-like persona, with his scruffy appearance and nonconformist attitude, channels the 1960s counterculture, while Mina’s urban, middle-class background anchors her in Japan’s postwar modernity. Their collision - literal and figurative - suggests a clash between tradition and rebellion, though the film does not fully develop this theme, prioritizing atmosphere over explicit commentary. The lake sequence, where Mina attempts to dispose of Ryo’s body, is particularly cinematic, using reflections and muted colors to evoke isolation and dread. Beyond its intriguing road-movie oddity value as an early Roman Porno film, the 88 Films Blu-ray of Sex Rider: Wet Highway provides a solid presentation and valued supplements - particularly the Jackson-Sharp commentary and Casiello’s essay. 

Gary Tooze