Deep Throat (Blu-ray) (Sunset Ent.) Review

Distributor: Sunset Entertainment / MVD Visual Edition Details: Collector's Edition Blu-ray Release Specs: Video Format: NTSC Format: Blu-ray Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia) Number of discs: 1

Deep Throat has what appears to be the most home video releases of any classic adult film, and yet every release ends up frustrating — especially the film's foray into Blu-ray. Sunset Entertainment's Blu-ray release of Deep Throat is the second Blu-ray release of the film and looked very promising at the start. Both the classic film and its 1974 sequel are contained on the release.

However, Sunset Entertainment's Deep Throat Collector's Edition is not the collector's edition that it could have been. The best-known element for Deep Throat is the CRI, which had a 720p scan made in 2006. The original Blu-ray for Deep Throat used an upscale of the 720p scan of the CRI and, sadly, this release appears to have also used an upscale of the 720p scan of the CRI.

Deep Throat — Part 2 is even more frustrating on this release than Deep Throat. This release uses a standard definition version of the scan made by After Hours Cinema in 2016 that is cut. Although to be fair, the cut version is the United States theatrical version.

The only extra contained on the release is a “Linda Loveless [sic] Interview,” which is presented in standard definition. The interview with Linda Lovelace runs for 23 minutes and was shot in 2002, shortly before her passing.

You can jump to the review of Deep Throat or Deep Throat — Part 2, or you can just keep reading to read all of them.

Deep Throat is the one adult film that everyone knows the name of, whether or not they have ever seen an adult film. Deep Throat has permeated every part of American culture, even being the pseudonym for Mark Felt, the informant of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein during Richard M. Nixon's 1972 Watergate Hotel scandal. Deep Throat was the adult film ushered in porno chic, making adult films acceptable for a brief period. Celebrities, including Jack Nicholson, Johnny Carson, and Frank Sinatra, went to see Deep Throat.

Is Deep Throat worth all the attention that it has received? In one word, no. When compared to other adult films made during the golden age of adult films and other films made by Gerard Damiano, the director of Deep Throat, Deep Throat comes up short, very short. Deep Throat is a lighthearted comedy, with some catchy music, that makes sex on the big screen seem, well, kind of innocent. Deep Throat manages to poke fun at some pop culture at the time while providing some true laughs. However, all Deep Throat ends up being is glossy fluff.

In Deep Throat, for readers who aren't familiar with the plot, Linda Lovelace (Linda Lovelace) goes to see Dr. Young (Harry Reems) because she doesn't hear bells when she has sex. Dr. Young discovers that Linda's vagina is missing her clitoris. Upon further investigation, Dr. Young discovers that Linda's clitoris is located deep in her throat, requiring her to give blowjobs to get off.

The main cast does a good job with their roles. Harry Reems is a natural at comedy, as he has shown many times over since Deep Throat, and does well delivering his material. Linda Lovelace looked like the girl next door, except she gave blowjobs. Carol Connors and Helen Wood do a good job in their supporting roles of Dr. Young's nurse and Helen, Linda's roommate, respectively. The rest of the cast just basically enters for their sex scene or moment on camera to then be forgotten. The sex scenes range from well done to somewhat bizarre but are well shot. In fact, the whole film is well shot, which definitely helps the film. Basically Deep Throat is a slice of life from a time period long past, which may seem dated and antiquated to younger viewers.

In a nutshell, Deep Throat really isn't worth all the attention that it has received over the years. This isn't to say that Deep Throat is a bad film because it isn't. Deep Throat is honestly a cute little piece of fluff that is fun to watch but bear in mind there are much better adult films out there.

Sunset Entertainment has done an overall poor job with their Blu-ray release of Deep Throat. Deep Throat was shot on 35mm film, and it looks like Sunset Entertainment has used a high definition scan of the CRI. Deep Throat is presented in the anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080i. The biggest issue with the video is that it looks like Sunset Entertainment has upscaled the 720p high definition scan of Deep Throat that was made in 2006 for this release. The image doesn't look horrible with print damage, and artifacts present and the picture contains jumps. The colors on the release are okay but are on the darker side. There doesn't appear to be any color correction for the release.

Deep Throat is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. This reviewer isn't sure why a lossless audio format wasn't offered on the release. The dialog is clear and easy to understand at all times. There is a hiss present during the whole film.

After the breakout success of Deep Throat, Louis Peraino and Phil Parisi wanted to capitalize on the money that the Deep Throat brand was making and decided to make a sequel. Deep Throat was a lighthearted hardcore sex comedy that took adult films from the back closet and made them chic. However, despite all the success, Deep Throat was also being prosecuted as obscenity all over the country. When Louis Peraino and Phil Parisi decided to make a sequel to Deep Throat, they also decided they wanted the film to be an R-rated softcore film that wouldn't cause them as many legal issues.

Louis Peraino and Phil Parisi brought on one of the kings of softcore films Joseph W. Sarno to write and direct Deep Throat — Part 2. Joseph W. Sarno was an odd choice since he was always better with softcore dramas than comedies; however, Louis Peraino and Phil Parisi were likely trying to capitalize on his name to up the box office receipts. Joseph W. Sarno opted to make Deep Throat — Part 2 as a spy comedy. Despite Damiano Films producing Deep Throat — Part 2, Gerard Damiano had nothing to do with making the film. Louis Peraino and Phil Parisi had “bought” out Gerard Damiano's share of Damiano Films by this point in time.

Deep Throat — Part 2 only has a marginal connection to the original Deep Throat, one that likely most viewers missed when watching the film. Harry Reems does reprise his character Dr. Jayson Young in Deep Throat — Part 2, although he has apparently let his original nurse (Carol Connors) go and has hired on Linda Lovelace (Linda Lovelace) as his new nurse — whom we can also assume is reprising her role.

Deep Throat — Part 2 failed to find an audience when it originally ran in theaters in 1974, and it isn't hard to see why the film has been mostly forgotten to time. Arrow Film and Video even released a new Deep Throat 2 in 1987 made by Larry Revene trying to remove this film from the Deep Throat canon.

The story for Deep Throat — Part 2 is an absolute mess that rarely seems to make any sense, although this may not be the fault of Joseph W. Sarno since he had no input into the editing process for the film. The story for Deep Throat — Part 2 revolves around Dilbert Lamb (Levi Richards), a brilliant scientist with odd sexual fetishes. Dilbert Lamb has created Oscar, a supercomputer that has true artificial intelligence. The CIA wants to know how to make Oscar so they can make more of the computers and the KGB wants to know how to make Oscar so they can bring the technology back to Mother Russia.

The problem is that the secret to how Oscar works only exists inside the head of Dilbert Lamb. Dr. Jayson Young and his nurse Linda Lovelace are treating Dilbert Lamb for his sexual fetishes. The CIA enlists Linda Lovelace to be a super secret agent to get the secret for Oscar from Dilbert Lamb, and the KGB try to infiltrate Dr. Jayson Young's office to get the secret for Oscar from Dilbert Lamb.

Deep Throat — Part 2 is an outrageous spy spoof that tries very hard to be funny; unfortunately, the film doesn't succeed that often. The failure isn't due to the cast. They honestly try their best; however, the film is too much of a mess for the cast to save. The story itself is too convoluted. Joseph W. Sarno has tried to do way too much in the film — most of which wasn't necessary at all and gets in the way of the enjoyment of the film.

For a sequel to a hardcore film, Deep Throat — Part 2 had to be a disappointment to theatrical patrons and is bound to be a disappointment to modern audiences as well. To secure an R-rating, the only remaining hints of sex that Deep Throat — Part 2 still contains are lots of topless women and some very lame sex jokes. Adrian Lynne's 1986 film 9&12frac; Weeks includes more sex than Deep Throat — Part 2 does. The jokes that are thrown at the audience left and right are hit or miss; unfortunately, there are more misses than hits. This isn't to say that there aren't any truly amusing moments in the film, the problem is there are too few genuinely funny moments.

Deep Throat — Part 2 will be of some interest to viewers who want to see the long forgotten sequel to Deep Throat. However, Deep Throat — Part 2 has little to offer viewers, and most people will find one viewing of this film to be too many.

Sunset Entertainment has done a poor job with their Blu-ray release of Deep Throat — Part 2. Deep Throat — Part 2 was shot on 35mm film and Sunset Entertainment has used After Hours Cinema 2016 high definition scan of a 35mm print for this release. Deep Throat — Part 2 is presented in the anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 480i — yes, you read that correct, the film is only presented in standard definition. The colors in the film look good for the most part; however there are a few places where the color is a little washed out. There has also not been any color correction done, so the colors do shift during the film. The film does contain print damage and artifacts throughout.

Despite rampant rumors to the contrary, Deep Throat — Part 2 was always made to be a softcore film. There wasn't ever any hardcore material that was seized by any party. This has been confirmed by both Joseph W. Sarno and Levi Richards. However, the R-rated United States theatrical cut was not the original cut of the film. There was a longer unrated cut that contained more softcore sex scene footage that had to be trimmed to get the R-rating. Some of the excised footage has appeared in an Italian release of Deep Throat — Part 2 and some of the excised footage is contained in the 1977 film The Confessions of Linda Lovelace. Bear in mind, neither of these versions would be considered the director's cut since Joseph W. Sarno didn't have anything to do with the editing process for Deep Throat — Part 2. Only the R-rated United States theatrical release is contained on this release.

Deep Throat — Part 2 is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. This reviewer isn't sure as to why Sunset Entertainment didn't include a lossless sound track for the film. The sound has an omnipresent hiss throughout the film along with crackles and pops. The dialog in the film is clear and easy to understand at all times.

Deep Throat is a historically significant film within the adult film industry due to the part the film played in kicking off the porno chic era. That aside, Deep Throat is nowhere near the best film to come out of the golden age of adult films nor was it anywhere near the best film to have been made by Gerard Damiano. Deep Throat is a cute comedy that will give the viewer some laughs and offers some nice looking sex scenes. Deep Throat is worth watching but don't expect anything groundbreaking here. Deep Throat — Part 2 is a sequel, mostly in name only, that is a softcore sex comedy that never manages to work. The cast does a great job, but the film itself is a mess that never manages to be entirely coherent. There are a few laughs, but they are few and far between.

Sunset Entertainment could have made a definitive collector's edition of Deep Throat with a new color corrected 2K scan of Deep Throat, a 2K scan of Deep Throat — Part 2, with the uncut version of the film, and collected all of the extras that have appeared on the various Deep Throat releases over the years. Instead, we get this release, which doesn't offer anything that hasn't already been offered before. If you don't own either the High Def Entertainment DVD of Deep Throat or the Intimate Film Blu-ray of Deep Throat the Sunset Entertainment release might be worth buying on a significant sale.

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