The Fastest-Growing Fandom Is For a Movie That Doesn’t Even Exist
If you use TikTok on a regular basis and have been seeing comments about a film called Zepotha then you aren’t alone. More often than not, someone will have written something along the lines of “Omg!!! You look like *insert name here* from Zepotha and people will rush to agree with that person.
But the thing is, the film doesn’t actually exist.
That’s right, the trend was created by TikTok user @emilyjeffri who shared the idea for the bit in an attempt to create “new lore,” and she only did it four days ago!
Onscreen she wrote, “Ok so new bit idea: What if we created a fake ’80s horror movie called ‘Zepotha’ & started commenting ‘omg u look EXACTLY like ________ from Zepotha’ on every thirst trap we see. Together, we will witness new lore develop, main characters will emerge, etc. & we can convince thousands of people that this weirdly titled ’80s horror film actually exists.”
And obviously, because the TikTok algorithm is weird, it pushed her video onto millions of people’s For You Pages, gaining nearly seven million views and two million likes.
For the video’s sound, the 18-year-old musician chose her own song called “DO YOU REMEMBER ME” which means this was more than likely just a way to push her music as she wrote in the caption, “putting this song forward as the movie’s main theme, i think it has zepotha vibes tbh.”
After the joke went viral she announced her debut album called SOUNDTRACK FOR AN 80’S HORROR MOVIE and even acknowledged that this was all for her album’s release saying, “& i cannot WAIT for you to hear it :) (big well done to those of you who figured it out ;)).”
There are currently a number of characters in the Zepotha cinematic universe: Danny, Alaine, Emma, Sophie, Ray, Jane, Maxine, Rita, Alex, Michael, Cole, Neil, Robbie, Alecia, and Eileen. There is even a filter that tells you which character you are (which features photos of random individuals) and a fake Wikipedia page that indicates a sequel is in the works. People are making edits of the supposed film with random spooky-looking footage, with users calling for the film to actually be made (which means it probably will because studios throw their money at the most random shit).
A number of famous faces have gotten involved with the trend, with ’80s icons Tears for Fears saying their song “Mad World” was originally written for the film, and Wizards of Waverly Place’s Maria Canals-Barrera, who played Alex Russo’s (Selena Gomez) mom Terresa posted a TikTok saying how much the film scared her but that it was “so good” when it originally came out in 1987.
We guess we’ll see you in the cinema when the film drops at some point in the future.
(featured image: emilyjeffri on TikTok)
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