Gerard Damiano has had the good sense to try a direct sequel to Deep Throat. It would be impossible to recapture the original’s flavor and rawness; not to mention the spontaneous reaction it provoked. And with Ms. Lovelace out of the picture, a sequel in the real sense of the work might come off as a dumb notion.

Throat – 12 Years After, a subtly cynical look at the sexual values of Americans today, makes the presumption that Deep Throat has had a major influence on all of our personal sex lives without mentioning that landmark film by name.  Whether we can take Damiano’s claim seriously may never be known, although the influence Deep Throat has had on the entire porn industry is comparable to Citizen Kane’s influence on the regular movie field.  Can we make that presumption?  Probably.

Three erotic segments and the pseudo-epilogue make Throat play like a porn combination of Love, American Style and Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous, as several of the characters sip martinis before and after sex.  Each vignette, laced with its own unique sense of humor, gives the viewers something serious to think about.

Throat begins with George Payne arguing with his guilty conscience.  Damiano flashes back to Payne’s wild encounter with hooker Sharon Mitchell, who chews gum and blows bubbles while reaching orgasm.  A flashback within a flashback shows Mitchell giving a guy head through a wire fence and quick editing shows both sexual encounters completely.  Meanwhile, Payne’s wife Michelle Maren finds erotic abandon as meterman Eric Edwards takes her to new sensual heights, using lingerie and dirty talk.

Scene two finds rich bitch Sharon Kane relating her past experiences with male and female hookers while making it with servant Jerry Butler.  A flashback here, done in dramatic style, intercuts the present-day action with a lesbian roundelay involving Kane and a none-too-cute prostitute.

The best and final segment features Joey Silvera and airhead girlfriend Joanna Storm attending a kinky sex club called The Sewer, where one sip of booze forces Joanna’s clothes right off. The waiter even comes in her drink… for an extra charge.  All sorts of sexual shenanigans are discovered in The Sewer, from group and lesbian sex to chains, collars, rings and ropes.

As it turns out, Silvera is married to Kane, and their open marriage proves quite different from straight-laced friends Payne and Maren.  Hence the epilogue, where the two couples begin to discuss their sexuality while viewing Deep Throat in amazement.

Throat – 12 Years After could have been titled anything else and been a success because the characters seem interesting and real and the sex is fabulous (particularly the performances of Joanna Storm and Sharon Mitchell).  The photography is remarkable, especially in the sex club where things are filmed from several unique angles.

However, the point that director Damiano seems to be making is that we are all so influenced by the existence of Deep Throat, there would be no porn to watch at all.  So Throat – 12 Years After is actually a typically well-made adult film that exists only because Deep Throat existed in the first place.  Damiano didn’t have to make a “sequel” to say that.  But on its own merits, this film is the first really great one of 1985.