By now you're probably familiar with the Mandela Effect, or the phenomenon where people collectively misremember historical events and pop culture moments. The latest Mandela Effect to take over TikTok is the '80s horror film Zepotha , which is either a standalone film, part of a trilogy, or will be remade in 2024 — depending on who you ask who. But before you spend hours trying to unravel the mystery, you should know that Zepotha isn't really a movie at all. That’s right, TikTokers created this completely fictional movie through vague comments and cleverly convincing videos to trick people into thinking it actually happened. So if you keep seeing Zepotha theories and references on TikTok, here's why.
Fans of the cult classic horror film can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that this forgotten photo from the '80s hasn't slipped away from them. Zepotha was introduced to TikTok users on August 11 by user @emilyjeffri, who organized the fake mande by encouraging others to leave comments like, "OMG you look exactly like that girl from Zepotha ." propagation of pull effects. The random videos served as a way to "witness new story developments," create backstories for non-existent major characters, and "convince thousands of people that this weirdly titled '80s horror movie actually existed."
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As of August 21, the video had over 1.4 million likes and 8.1 million views, so it wasn't long before Zepotha content began flooding the comments section and taking over FYP. By developing character breakdowns and recreating scenarios that didn't even exist, TikTokers managed to organically create the legend of Zepotha out of thin air, just like @emilyjeffri intended.
Of course, users who weren't in on the joke started to notice, leading to a lot of confusion on the platform. Creator @spencewuah's comment was bombarded with replies comparing him to Zepotha 's Greg, which clearly left TikTokers scratching their heads. When they found out what had happened, they were unhappy.
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The original video featured a song called "DO YOU REMEMBER ME," which the creators added because they thought the song gave off a " Zepotha vibe." If you look closely, you'll see that the song was written by an artist named jeffri - the same name used in the TikToker's nickname. If you haven't figured it out by now, it seems @emilyjeffri developed the fake Zepotha craze as a way to promote their music, and considering the full soundtrack is expected to be released on August 25th, it looks like it's working.
One of @nogood.io's creators explained that the song's false marketing scheme was so successful because the artist was able to sell "entertainment as a high-engagement game for people to interact with and use the song As a subplot." If "DO YOU REMEMBER ME" was marketed simply as a song that would sound great in an '80s horror movie, it might not be as effective.
Zepotha may not be a true '80s movie, but that doesn't mean it'll never come out. If 2021's Ratatouille the Musical has taught us anything, it's that no one is more engaged than TikTokers.
