Hollywood has been scrambling to find creepypastas and internet horrors to jump on after the success of Backrooms, and the latest is a film based on Jeff the Killer. But the concept and the creator behind it make this arguably the most intriguing of the bunch. Kane Parsons’ Backrooms and Curry Barker’s Obsession have proven Gen Z will still show up to cinemas – but only if the films are good. Superhero and franchise fatigue is real, but earnest, creative, well-told stories that have something to say will get butts in seats. The proof is in the pudding: Backrooms made nearly $400 million against a $10 million budget, while Obsession raked in $488 million against a $750,000 budget. We all predicted that the studios would jump on this trend, and we were right. Over the past month, film adaptations of Siren Head, The Mandela Catalogue, and Cartoon Cat have all been given the greenlight. ALL OF THESE MOVIES CONFIRMED byu/Seyfertguy increepypasta Now, the iconic creepypasta Jeff the Killer is getting the Hollywood treatment. Aside from being a solid basis for a big screen adaptation, the project itself is embracing its internet roots in a way we haven’t seen yet. TikToker Savanah Moss – best known for her “fever dream” sketch videos – is developing the Jeff the Killer film alongside Tongal. If you’re unfamiliar, Tongal is a collaborative studio that connects major brands with a network of indie creators. It essentially uses a crowdsourcing approach to allow creatives to pitch ideas, write scripts and produce media. Right now, both Savanah and Tongal are calling on fans to chime in. She announced the news in a classic fever-dream-esque TikTok video, writing, “What if I told you I’m partnering with Tongal to develop a Jeff The Killer MOVIE… and we want your help.” The link in her bio leads to a landing page, where users are invited to submit their character concepts for the project, helping to establish what makes him tick. Essentially, anyone who sends their ideas in will help to shape how Jeff the Killer will be portrayed in the film. @savanahmosss What if I told you i’m partnering with @Tongal to develop a Jeff The Killer MOVIE… and we want your help. Check my bio!! jeffthekiller ♬ original sound – Savanah Moss It’s a genius idea. Like every creepypasta, Jeff has never belonged to one person. In this case, it’s based around a haunting image of a pale, smiling figure paired with a short story about a teenage boy who suffers a violent attack by bullies. With his face permanently disfigured, he goes insane and carves out a permanent smile after being sent home from the hospital. He kills his family and goes on a rampage, telling his victims, “Go to sleep” before murdering them in cold blood. But what turned Jeff into an internet icon wasn’t that first post alone. It was the thousands of fan stories, redesigns, theories and videos that followed, each adding another layer to the legend. What makes him so terrifying very much depends on the individual. That’s exactly what made Parsons’ Backrooms so compelling. The original concept was little more than an eerie image and a paragraph describing endless yellow corridors, but Parsons built an entire mythology around it through his found-footage series. There are now countless interpretations of the Backrooms, and the same can be said about Jeff the Killer. Savanah and Tongal are leaning into this in a new way by inviting others to get involved. Speaking to The Wrap, Tongal co-founder and CEO James DeJulio explained, “First, Jeff the Killer ‘jumpscare’ has to be in the hall of fame of internet folklore. Second, the story and ambiguity around the original photo, and the ‘Is it real’ history, lent itself perfectly to working with both the fanbase and our filmmaking community to turn it into a feature.” Elaborating on the changing nature of filmmaking, he said, “I believe the line between a ‘creator’ and a ‘filmmaker’ is starting to disappear. Now you’re seeing creators take everything they’ve learned and apply it on a much bigger scale. “This has been the biggest sea change in Hollywood since the original studio system broke up. It’s been pretty obvious that the studios have been out of touch with the fans and audiences for some time now. “And when two scrappy young filmmakers prove that they can not only build an audience outside of the system, but they can also bring that audience into theaters, it’s a massive wake up call.” Ultimately, Backrooms and Obsession demonstrated where the next generation of horror is headed; this latest announcement builds on that. And if Jeff the Killer has spent the last two decades telling us to “go to sleep”, it only feels right that the internet gets the final say on which nightmares keep us awake. For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page. Featured image credit: Reddit/Tongal/TikTok/@savanahmosss Post navigation Next story
