Throat... 12 Years After

Throat... 12 Years After (1984)

*** (out of 4)

Gerard Damiano's "follow-up" to the landmark DEEP THROAT isn't' anything like the original for a number of reasons but more on that in a bit. The "story" here follows several different couples all of who are facing a variety of issues related to sexuality.

That's all I'm going to say about the plot because, well, to be honest, how much of a plot is really important to a film like this? I will say that I was surprised at how well-made this picture was as well as how emotional it was as there's certainly not just mindless sex here but instead there's some real emotion to the sex in the picture. As I said, this has very little in common with DEEP THROAT but it's amazing to see how much better this one is all around. Whereas that original landmark was rather poorly made and ugly, that's certainly not the case here.

I was surprised to see how terrific this was on a technical level. The cinematography is some of the very best that you're going to see in an adult picture and in fact it's good enough to have been used in a mainstream film. I also thought the editing was terrific and especially when being paired up with the excellent soundtrack. A lot of times the sex scenes are edited to the music and the effect is quite good. You've also got a very good cast here and all of them do a fine job with their roles. From the actual sex scenes to even their personal stories being played out.

THROAT... 12 YEARS AFTER is a film that I went into expecting it to be some sort of cash-in on the original. It's nothing like that and in fact there's very little that connects this film to that 1972 one. If you're a fan of hardcore movies then this one here is certainly a winner.

Gerard Damiano, creator of the original DEEP THROAT in 1972, adds his own sequel of sorts with this surprisingly thoughtful and frequently witty tale of two acquainted married couples and their various erotic (mis-)adventures.

George Payne is married to pretty Michelle Maren (whose only other adult role of note seems to have been in the silly but enjoyable FLASHPANTS) but picks up tart with a heart Sharon Mitchell for the film's opening scene. After a realistic encounter (he's all nervous, she's both patient and playful), the girl remembers her first sexual experience with a high school jock in a haunting flashback sequence. Meanwhile, wifey (who has never been with another man but her husband) recounts her woes to repair man Eric Edwards who gives her advice on how to spice up her bedroom antics. The other couple, seasoned veterans Sharon Kane and Joey Silvera, are heavily into swinging. While she's more of a one to one gal who likes to bring street hustlers into their fancy apartment, he prefers to take his ditzy blonde secretary (all time fan favorite Joanna Storm) to raunchy sex clubs for no holds barred orgies. Damiano plays this particular sequence largely for laughs with people (a veritable who's who of New York performers at the time) on a huge revolving stage set doing all sorts of unmentionable yet highly pleasurable things to one another.

Kane's match-up with inexperienced streetwalker Jerry Butler (always a fine actor) hits a more recognizable note with the older woman instructing him how to please her as she flashes back on a previous encounter with one of her husband's fly by night mistresses (the exquisite Laurie Smith). For a (non-sex) capper both couples get together for cocktails and a video viewing of the original THROAT, commenting on the action and toasting to sexual experience.

With the help of fine cinematography and a uniformly excellent cast (the two Sharons being particular standouts), Damiano came up with one of his last truly great films. It somehow seems befitting that this should also be his own personal continuation of the movie that first put him on the map, kind of like a charting of sexual morals and their development in the 12 intervening years. All of the sex is really special, much of it emotionally charged, once again showing how the industry has sadly homogenized since.