Sex Rider Wet Highway – 88 Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Japan, 1971
Director: Koretsugu Kurahara
Writer: Tatsuya Asai
Cast: Mari Tanaka, Ken Yoshizawa, Ken Mizoguchi, Yuki Seto, Akira Takahashi, Kinji Takinami, Norihiko Umetani

Release Date: July 7th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 67 Minutes 31 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £15.00 (UK)

"Mina is suffering last-minute nerves on the eve of her wedding day, but when she is involved in a hit-and-run, she is forced to take a diversion from her road to the altar to a deserted lake among the mountains in an attempt to cover her tracks. However, the body of the victim, a down-and-out named Ryo (Ken Yoshizawa; Ecstasy of Angels, Guts of a Beauty), is far from as cold as she first assumes." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "High-Definition Blu-Ray Presentation In 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio."

Sex Rider Wet Highway comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.8 GB

Feature: 18.8 GB

The source is in excellent shape; there is some very minor print debris that remains. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, black levels are strong, and image clarity and compression are solid.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Japanese with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced, and range-wise ambient sounds are well represented.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image gallery with music from the film playing in the background (12 images - stills/poster), a theatrical trailer (1 minute 30 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with removable English subtitles), an introduction by Ken Terawaki titled Highway to Nowhere (10 minutes 46 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with Earl Jackson and Jasper Sharp, removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings and a 12-page booklet with cast & crew information and an essay titled Sex at Speed: An Erotic Drive Off a Cliff written by Caitlin Casiello.

Summary:

Koretsugu Kurahara directed Sex Rider Wet Highway. Before becoming a director, he worked as an assistant director on two films directed by Yasuharu Hasebe: Massacre Gun and Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss. Like a lot of his contemporaries, he stayed with Nikkatsu when they made the transition to romantic pornography films. Out of the nine films that he directed, his most notable is Bad Girl Mako, an action crime film, and his only foray as a director of romantic pornography films.

An engaged woman who is having an affair has her life turned upside down when she accidentally hits a man with her car and nearly kills him.

Sex Rider Wet Highway is part of a group of films referred to as romantic pornography films; it was Nikkatsu’s seventh film after their rebranding. Although Sex Rider Wet Highway has many of the core elements that are synonymous with romantic pornography films, the result was something that is closer to the action and youth films that Nikkatsu was leaving behind by the early 1970s. That said, Sex Rider Wet Highway actually bears more similarities to Bad Girl Mako than any other film that Koretsugu Kurahara directed.

Sex Rider Wet Highway is a film about the consequences of the choices we make. The protagonist, Mina, is having an affair the day before her wedding, and when she leaves with her lover, her car accidentally hits a man. She drives away, instead of stopping to check on the man, only to return after being abandoned by her lover. When she returns, the injured man, who is actually ok, acts like he’s near death. Frightened, she takes the man's body to a lake and disposes of it.

There are really only two characters who get any substantial screentime: Mari Tanaka (Love Hunter) in the role of Mari, and Ken Yoshizawa (Ecstasy of the Angels) in the role of Ryô, the man that Mari hits with her car. They are given more to work with than your average romantic pornography film, and they deliver solid performances. Another character of note is a hunter who sees Mari dump Ryô’s body; he tries to blackmail her before taking her by force.

It is amazing how much freedom Nikkatsu gave directors making romantic pornography films as long as they delivered a few mandatory elements. For Koretsugu Kurahara’s first foray into romantic pornography films, he not only adapts to these types of films’ requirements, but he also does a superb job infusing in elements that elevate the story that unfolds.

Although the visuals often exceed expectations, when it comes to the sex scenes, they are not as artful or inventive as most romantic pornography films are. Despite the sex scenes obscuring most of what would be considered obscene in Japan, there are a few moments where obstructions are used.

The most surprising aspect of Sex Rider Wet Highway is how exposition-heavy it is. After an initial sexual encounter that opens the film, it is nearly 20 minutes before the next sex scene. That said, things get sleazier, picking up considerably in the last 40 minutes, culminating in a scene where Mari and Ryô are having sex while driving erratically to their fate. A strength of the narrative is its effective use of flashback sequences, which flesh out Ryô's past. Ultimately, Sex Rider Wet Highway serves as an exemplary representation of romantic pornography films, showcasing creativity and solidifying its status as one of the genre's high points.

Sex Rider Wet Highway gets an exceptional release from 88 Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a trio of insightful extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer