Why is Jeff the Killer so popular?

[Durkoala]

I think the first time I heard of Jeff the Killer was in a vs match between various horror icons, where he was swiftly dismissed as being the natural prey of the other competitors WITH A KNIFE and things moved on to Jason vs the Slenderman. It was some time before I noticed this anime version of the Joker appearing all over the place, and some more time still before I actually looked up what the deal with him was.

It turned out that this recurring subject of fanart, comics and youtube videos, who was depicted fighting Slenderman to a standstill several times, was basically just Two-face if he leaned to the left. He has no powers, nothing to set him apart from the many other slashers, isn't especially creepy in the scheme of things and doesn't even have an interesting way to kill people (although his 'time to sleep' catchprase is admittedly pretty scary). His popularity and status as a creepypasta celebrity utterly mystify me.

Would somebody be so kind as to enlighten a confused soul?

[Tiki Snakes]

I'd love to, but I haven't the faintest idea to be perfectly honest. I think I miiiight have watched a reading of it in one of my creepy-pasta-tube-dives, but if I did, nothing stuck firmly in my mind.

The idea of Slenderman fighting anyone still makes me sad. I prefer the vibe of the original image manipulations, wherein you don't fight or even see Slendy, you just notice him in old pictures sometime after your children have disappeared.

[Grinner]

He's a stunning example of how much of a crapshoot popular success is.

The short of the story is that some kid goes off to juvenile detention in his brother's stead and comes back a hardened psychopath. Some people die, he becomes disfigured, blah, blah, blah.

It's so poorly written that the Creepypasta wiki actually deleted it per their quality standards.

[Rater202]

And don't forget all of the crappy memetic badass fan spin-offs he gets.

Personally, I think it's the idea of a guy with a face that screwed up standing over you and saying "Go to sleep" right before he stabs you scares the frack out of people and that sticks in their minds more than how terrible the original story is.

A much better story is a semi-realistic rewrite that posits that the original Jeff would have died of his face wounds getting infected shortly after the original story and all of the other Jeff Killings were copycats-tongue in cheek referencing all of the poor quality fan spin-offs.

[Kid Jake]

I think it's the Boba Fett effect. He had a cool visual so people just attributed cool things to him.

[Bulldog Psion]

Yes, Jeff is definitely pretty "lame" in my book as well, and his popularity a mystery. I actually find the real uncaptured serial killers (Zodiac, the Original Night Stalker) to be considerably creepier than the rather ludicrous Jeff.

And I agree totally that having the Slenderman "fight" someone is a big, big comedown. No subtlety whatsoever. :smallyuk:

[Rodin]

Yes, Jeff is definitely pretty "lame" in my book as well, and his popularity a mystery. I actually find the real uncaptured serial killers (Zodiac, the Original Night Stalker) to be considerably creepier than the rather ludicrous Jeff.

And I agree totally that having the Slenderman "fight" someone is a big, big comedown. No subtlety whatsoever. :smallyuk:

Slenderman fights [Insert horror character here].

[Horror character] looks around, but can't see anything. [Horror character] catches a glimpse of Slenderman out of the corner of his eye. [Horror character] goes mad from the revelation.

No part of the "battle" is witnessed by anyone, but later [Horror character]'s clothes are mysteriously found in the woods. [Horror character] themselves are never seen again.