Has anyone ever told you that you look like Frankie from the movie Zepotha? Because you totally do. So do I, so does your dog, and so does anyone you point to on the street. The truth is that we’re all Frankie from Zepotha — because Zepotha doesn’t exist.
TikTok loves to churn out hyperspecific pranks. Remember when people tried to make the chair emoji the new laughing emoji? (It didn’t work.) Zepotha is TikTok’s latest invention, and if your FYP looks anything like mine, you’ve probably seen its fans hard at work in every video’s comment section spreading the word about the ’80s movie that never was. There are fancasts, fancams, and fanart about the fake film floating around the app made by the strongest meme soldiers of our generation. The trend is hilarious, confusing, and absolutely genius marketing for the musician who created it. Here’s how the 1987 hoax became a 2023 cult classic.
How did the Zepotha meme start?
Zepotha was created by an 18-year-old independent music artist named Emily Jeffri. Jeffri has been promoting her upcoming debut album, SOUNDTRACK FOR AN ‘80S HORROR MOVIE, by leaning into its ‘80s cinema aesthetic (honestly, its title couldn’t be more accurate). She came up with the concept for Zepotha in a TikTok video posted on Aug. 12. Jeffri encouraged her fans to A) flesh out the characters and story of Zepotha, and B) comment on people’s videos comparing them to characters from Zepotha.
Her video went viral, and now the joke has taken over the internet. Zepotha’s got a Reddit page, fanfiction on Archive of Our Own, and even a page on DoesTheDogDie? (the audience seems split over whether or not the dog does, in fact, die). Creators like Alyssa McKay and the mom from Wizards of Waverly Place have fallen prey to Zepotha stans slash trolls.
Zepotha isn’t the first fake movie Gen Z has championed. Goncharov is a nonexistent Martin Scorsese-directed 1973 gangster film that Tumblr users tried to convince the rest of the internet actually exists back in 2022. As AI continues to generate pictures of fake heartthrob actors and Gen Z stays committed to the bit, I expect to see a phony ‘90s comedy making the rounds next.
What is Zepotha about?
Zepotha is a fake ‘80s horror movie that uses Jeffri’s song “DO YOU REMEMBER ME” as its main theme. Its lore keeps growing by the day as people keep coming up with new characters and scenes they “remember” from their childhoods. The main characters of Zepotha seem to be Alaine, Maxine, Danny, and Cole. I’ve also seen people commenting about Emma, Frankie, Lydia, Rita, Jordan, and pretty much every other name you’d find in a parenting book from 1987.
Commenters claim that the movie includes a scary bathtub scene, a garden scene, and a rollercoaster “situation” that caused major beef between two side characters. Other characters have been traumatized by bunnies and chainsaws. It’s truly a horror trope free-for-all.
Zepotha had a short-lived Wikipedia page that Jeffri posted on her TikTok account. It was replaced by a Zepotha wiki that provides a detailed plot summary of the movie, but Jeffri has yet to confirm that the new description is canon. She’s also slightly amended her original story to be that the song “DO YOU REMEMBER ME” is being used for Zepotha’s sequel.
How can you get involved with the Zepotha trend?
If you’re a filmmaker, meme connoisseur, or just someone who needs a sense of structure in their life, you can compete to decide the plot of Zepotha! Jeffri is offering £500 and the honor of creating Zepotha’s official lore to the best short film submitted by Oct. 20. You must fill out this Google form to compete. The winner will be announced on Halloween.
To really immerse yourself in the Zepotha-verse and get inspo for your short film, stream SOUNDTRACK FOR AN ‘80S HORROR MOVIE when it drops on Aug. 25. In the meantime, you can keep the meme going by commenting under Zepotha look-alikes’ videos or making fan edits. Suddenly, all your friends look just like Alaine.