Zepotha

Submission 3,065

Part of a series on TikTok. [View Related Entries]

About

Zepotha is a fake 80s horror movie created by TikToker @emilyjeffri. In mid-August 2023, the TikToker uploaded a video where she proposes the idea of the fake movie, asking viewers to comment under thirst traps on TikTok, "omg you look exactly like X from Zepotha," X being a fictional character from the film, to gaslight people into thinking it exists. The video went viral, inspiring videos, fan art and other fan content claiming Zepotha is real. The meme has been compared to other fake movie memes like Goncharov, with some Tumblr users accusing Zepotha of being a low-effort copycat of the trend.

Origin

On August 11th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @emilyjeffri posted a selfie video sharing a long caption where she proposes that viewers pretend an 80s horror movie named Zepotha exists in order to spread a spam comment meme. In the caption, she asks viewers to start posting, "wait u look exactly like X from Zepotha," X being the TikToker, to try and make them think Zepotha is a real movie. The video gained over 5.1 million views in three days and is set to an original song by the TikToker, who goes by emily jeffri on Spotify.^[2] The video is possibly a way for her to promote her upcoming album "SOUNDTRACK FOR AN 80’S HORROR MOVIE."

ok so new bit idea: what if we created a fake 80s horror movie called 'Zepotha' & started commenting "omg u look EXACTLY like that one girl from Zepotha" of "wait 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

Spread

The video went viral over the following days, inspiring TikTokers to leave comments under unrelated videos claiming the TikTokers look like characters from the film, while also inspiring fan content. For example, on August 13th, TikTokers^[3]^[4] @lonepinemusic and @rllyroman posted videos pretending Zepotha is a real movie, garnering over 217,000 and 604,000 views respectively in a day (shown below, left and right).

That day, X^[5] user @astrogliitch posted a piece of fan art depicting a poster for the movie, garnering over 250 likes in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, Tumblr^[6] user 420technoblazeit made a post criticizing the meme for being a low-effort, worse version of Goncharov, a fake movie invented by Tumblr, garnering over 700 notes in a day (quoted below). On the same day, Tumblr^[7] user notyournightsky posted a can I copy your homework meme suggesting the same thing, garnering over 100 notes in a day (shown below, right).

the thing about zepotha is it’s literally just the worse goncharov. they WISH they could be goncharov. but instead of making any actual content even if it’s just a shitty photoshop edit theyre just going on other people’s content and bombarding the comment section with omg you look just like maxine from zepotha!!!

i want to see edits scraped together from five different 80s slasher films, i want to see cosplays, fake movie posters, in depth slideshow analysis videos. COMMIT TO YOUR BIT

Later that day, TikToker^[8]^[9] @zep0tha posted a video sharing several memes about characters from Zepotha, garnering over 880,000 views in a day (shown below, left). TikToker @emilyjeffri posted numerous videos playing into the meme, which she invented, as well, including a video showcasing a Zepotha filter game created by another TikToker, garnering over 2 million views in a day (shown below, right).