Black Christmas invented it, Halloween perfected it, by the time of Friday the 13th there was a pretty solid formula in place. Pick a significant date, get a bunch of nubile, horny teens, set a knife wielding maniac on them, and Bob's your uncle (or, in an implausible twist in the sequel, your long lost brother). The only trouble here is that Friday the 13th doesn't come round with the same predictable regularity as Halloween or Christmas. Given Part 2 actually begins on the morning after the events of the first film, perhaps Saturday the 14th would have been a more logical title (in the same way that the tagline for Halloween 2 should have been: "The night he came home and the morning after"). In fact, of the 12 installments released so far in the Friday the 13th series only four (parts 1, 6, 7, and the 2009 reboot) actually happen on Friday the 13th. Meanwhile, the whole series is chronologically confused from the start given that the first film is set on Friday the 13th of June 1979, a date that never actually existed (June 13th was a Wednesday that year). That isn't even the most egregious titling mishap of the series, though, as Friday the 13th manages not one but two "final" installments that weren't final. 1984's Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was anything but, it was not set on Friday the 13th and was followed by eight further parts, including 1993's Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. That film was itself followed by a space set sequel, a crossover, and the reboot. Given Jason's "death" at some point in the past was the whole motivation for the first film he has a remarkable staying power. Expect another Friday the 13th to come round in the not too distant future regardless of the relevance of the date.
