Director Sean Weathers' Erotic Horror Thriller 'The Fappening' is Surprisingly Good [REVIEW]

Guyanese director, producer, writer and editor Sean Weathers is a self-described "guerilla filmmaker" who specializes in erotic horror films. Now, this genre is best summed up, in both positive and negative aspects, by its most famous purveyors. It is a genre of excess, probably due to it's content--violence and female nudity, more popular among men than women. Weathers' newest offering, The Fappening, revels in the excesses of the genre. Namely, b00bs and bl00d. What sets this film apart from all the others exploitative schlock, but like almost any other among them, is Weathers, himself.

The film draws its inspiration from the infamous 2014 hack, where countless Hollywood actresses had personal photos of themselves stolen. Weathers plays director Alan Smithee. As he waits for his next project to materialize, Alan indulges in a fun, albeit dark world of sex and drugs. Perhaps due to the fact that that he is a filmmaker, Alan likes to film himself having sex with the actresses in this film. Whether or not that's a strategic plot point or a simple byproduct of, you know, him making the film is not worth the time it takes to debate.

It obscures the, ahem, charm of this beguiling little film. (Besides, the fact that Mr. Weathers would probably agree that the plot would never stand up to too close of scrutiny). After all, at the very low budget strata of filmmaking, where The Fappening most certainly exists, synposes are things you hang around a naked starlet or the masked maniac chasing them with a knife in his hand.

When Alan's own film is hacked and his footage stolen, naturally, he spirals even further out of control. The press attention--of course, it is inferred here--is intense; those subjects of the videos threaten him with payback. Alan finally breaks when a pet project promised him falls through, a certain death by those he believes first ruined his life.

All in all, the one thing to take away from this film is that Weathers is a curio of a talent. Through his acting and writing, he injects a piquant personality and even a bit LOL comedy into The Fappening that most other low-fi NYC auteurs either couldn't or just wouldn't deign to do. And the dialogue is decent, considering the entire thing was shot, according to Weathers, in a single week. The indominable Miss Tina Krause graces the film, as Alan's agent, with her beauty and charms, as well.