Ozploitation royalty try their hand at eighties American-style sex comedy with the sports flick WINDRIDER, on Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment.

Stewart P.C. Simpson (Tom Burlinson, FLESH + BLOOD) is a technical wiz kid whose life revolves around windsurfing when his engineering executive father Stewart Sr. (Charles Tingwell, DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS) is not trying to move him up the ladder. When he finally achieves a 360 degree flip in the ocean, the only witness to it is driven pop singer hopeful Jade Kelly (Nicole Kidman, DEAD CALM). At first, Stewart tries to get her to confirm his feat to his friends and rival Coyote (Kim Bullad); however, the more she resists his attempts to court her company, the more he starts falling for her. Initially exasperated by P.C.'s antics, Jade starts to fall for him as well when he needs some cheering up after a near-fatal close call with a shark. As the two start spending more time together in and out of bed, windsurfing and singing fall by the wayside, and it is Jade who realizes that P.C. is a shell of his former self and needs some tough love to face his fears and hit the waves again.

Having more in common with the lighthearted Hollywood teen-oriented sports romantic dramas of the eighties, WINDRIDER is not your typical Ozploitation film even though it was made by two people synonymous with the genre: screenwriter Everett de Roche (PATRICK) and cinematographer-turned-director Vincent Monton (LONG WEEKEND). The film does feel quite formulaic in terms of its dramatic beats, but Burlinson and Kidman – who made her Hollywood debut four years later with DAYS OF THUNDER – are attractive and engaging, and they are well-supported by Tingwell, Jill Perryman as P.C.'s long-suffering executive secretary, and Simon Chilvers (SKY PIRATES) as P.C.'s engineer. Kidman lip-synchs her rock numbers but they function well in a tapestry of driving eighties tunes that sometimes give the impression of a faster pace than the action (there really is not as much actual windsurfing footage as one would expect in a sports-themed film).

Released theatrically in the US by United Artists and on VHS by MGM, WINDRIDER as on Ozploitation film was relatively late to DVD with a 2008 DVD from Umbrella. Most of the extras were ported over for MVD Visual's American "Rewind Collection" Blu-ray in 2018 along with this brand new Umbrella Ozploitation Classics line release. There is no information about the 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen Blu-ray transfer, but it sports a vivid color grade associated not only with the popular image of sunny Australia but also the eighties with rich blue skies and sun-warmed skin. The location interiors can look a little duller by comparison but the only true annoyance is the lack of digital restoration to the reel changes which sport varying degrees of minor wear and minute jitter. Audio, on the other hand, is a letdown since the film was mixed and released in Dolby Stereo but what we get here (and on the MVD Blu-ray) is a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track. Dialogue is clear but the music varies, with the first rendition of Boyd Wilson's "Young Days" having the appropriate umph while some of Kidman's music numbers can sound a little muffled in the mix when not up front (for instance, P.C.'s "dark night of the soul" neon night stroll in which thematic lyrics are not always intelligible). Optional English HoH subtitles are provided.

Ported over from the 2008 DVD is an audio commentary by director Monton and writer de Roche moderated by NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD's Mark Hartley in which they note that the template film that inspired WINDRIDER was RISKY BUSINESS not only in tone but also aiming for an M-rating that Monton now believes was a mistake and that the film should have been aimed at a younger audience (although de Roche claims he only wrote "they make love" for Burlinson's and Kidman's sex scene, Monton does note that a scene in which Jade windsurfs topless was in the script but never filmed). De Roche reveals that he only wrote the first draft and that the rest was the work of associate producer Bonnie Harris (REBEL). They also reveal that actress/singer Kerry Mack (HOSTAGE) was up for Kidman's role and TV actor Martin Sacks (BLUE HEALERS) was up for the lead but that Burlinson was hot off of THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER and he did as much of his own windsurfing as possible (only conflicting with Monton when the safety officer objected to some scenes). They also note the change meeting of Australian underwater photographer George Greenborough (THE LAST WAVE) in Hollywood, that he built custom rigs to shoot the windsurfing scenes, and that the stuntman never actually achieved a 360 flip which was put together in the editing room from different takes.