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Summary:
Frank Black is dismayed to learn that a movie is being shot based on an infamous
serial killing case he solved thirteen years ago. Things get
out of hand when new murders, committed by a copycat killer, begin
occurring with the same patterns featured in the film and case files.
Frank hopes to find answers during the filming of the movie's
finale, at a KISS concert, while Emma searches famous horror films for
clues.
Season Three on DVD
Quote:
"Never believe anything you see on Halloween." —Reverend M. Goodman,
October 31, 1985
Synopsis:
Inside an F.B.I. classroom, a lecturer addresses a roomful
of attentive agents. Though we do not see the speaker's
face, we hear Frank Black's voice describing a horrific
murder case, one that happened during the week just before
Halloween.
In flashback, Frank and Emma are
summoned to a motel in Trinity, South Carolina. The pair meets with
Sheriff Fritz Neuenschwander, who walks them through a murder scene.
The sheriff explains that two individuals, actress Marta Danbury and
director Lew Carroll, were both viciously murdered inside their room.
Both were in town filming a small B-movie on a nearby soundstage.
Shortly thereafter, Frank, Emma and
the sheriff travel to the soundstage, where they observe several
actors and a film crew shooting a picture which, it turns out, is
based on a murder case Frank investigated thirteen years earlier.
Frank is offended when he realizes that most of the factual evidence
in the case is being completely ignored in favor of sensationalism.
Frank and Emma interview the principles, as many had a motive for
the killings.
Among them is producer Kenny
Neiderman, who had been sleeping with Marta Danbury; Rowdy Beeman,
who suddenly rose to the rank of director upon Lew Carroll's demise;
actress Ruby Dahl, whose role was drastically expanded to compensate
for Danbury; Sir Douglas Latham, an aging British stage actor; Sara
Cryer, the film's unit publicist; John and Don, the film's
screenwriters, who were displeased with Carroll's take on their
screenplay; flirtatious star Ramona Tangent; and Mark Bianco, a
method actor who portrays Frank Black in the film. Also included on
the suspect list is Hugo Winston, whose fiancie was murdered by the
killer thirteen years earlier. Hugo declares that the production
desecrates the name of the deceased.
Most of the crew members
gather to watch the filming of a scene in which Ruby Dahl goes
skinny-dipping in a pool. Once the scene is photographed, the crew
assembles around folding tables where a caterer distributes
sandwiches. As the director bites into his sandwich, he realizes
that the "meat" is, in fact, a human finger. Rowdy recognizes a ring
on the severed digit, and proclaims that producer Niederman has been
killed.
Despite protests from an irate
cast and crew, the sheriff closes down the shoot. Meanwhile, Emma
speculates that the murderer may be using classic horror films as
the inspiration for the manner in which he kills. The pair conclude
that the suspect may strike at the motel where the crew is staying.
A figure lures them upon the roof of the building, where they
discover body of publicist Sara Cryer dangling upside down from a
rope, a death that mirrors killings seen in the films Halloween and
Friday the 13th. Meanwhile, one of the film's extras, a man named
Hector, confesses to the crimes. Frank destroys his credibility.
Nonetheless, the mayor proclaims that production may resume.
Frank and Emma realize that
horror films were playing on television on the nights of all the
murders. The pair consult a television listing and discover that the
film Motel Hell is being broadcast that evening. They race to
the soundstage, where it is discovered that several members of the
crew had their vocal cords severed, a la Motel Hell. Frank
also discovers Hugo Winston, his body hanging by the neck, a butcher
knife nearby.
Frank finds it difficult to believe
that Hugo is the killer. Emma consults the television listings, but
because it is Halloween, the airwaves are filled with movie
marathons, making it impossible to predict how the killer will
strike next. Emma stays at the hotel to watch television, hoping for
some insight into how the murderer thinks. Meanwhile, Frank drives
back to the soundstage, where the crew films a climactic scene set
at a nightclub. He scrutinizes his surroundings as movie extras
dressed in Halloween costumes mill about the sound stage. Suddenly,
Sheriff Neuenschwander's corpse crashes down from the rafters.
Pandemonium breaks out, and during the confusion, Frank realizes
that in most B-movies, the leading lady dies last. But Ramona is
spotted nearby, safe and sound. Frank realizes the killer will
target Emma.
He races to the motel, where
Mark Bianco, armed with a chainsaw, is on the loose. Emma manages to
dislodge the device from Bianco's hands. Bianco produces a gun and
takes aim at Frank. The pair circle on another, guns drawn. Bianco
explains that, as the consummate professional actor, he wanted to be
Frank to see what the killer saw. Frank manages to get off a shot,
and a wounded Bianco falls to the ground.
Back at the F.B.I. classroom, the
lecturer concludes his story. But we see that the speaker is not
Frank Black. It is Mark Bianco. And his audience is not comprised of
F.B.I. agents, but of fellow inmates inside an insane asylum.
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Photographs:
- Marta Danbury and Lew Carroll
- Danbury and Carroll play with fake blood
- A pair of Trinity police officers
- The disembodied finger found at lunch
- Actor Mark Bianco as Frank Black
- Murder suspect Hector Leachman
- KISS performs for the film's finale
- Frank Black faces off against his double
- Frank poses with the members of KISS
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Abyss Rating:
(4/5)
Media Review:
"['...Thirteen Years Later,'] which
included cameos by the rock band KISS, the shower scene from Psycho,
and Jorge Luis Borges' short-story collection Labyrinths, was
wacky, but at its core was a good murder plot as solidly constructed
as an old episode of Columbo." —Ken Tucker, Entertainment
Weekly
"'…Thirteen
Years Later' is the third season's comic mission statement, an
installment featuring murder, mayhem, and the rock band KISS that,
much like the show's circular snake symbol, eats its own tail to the
point of existential absurdity." —Keith
Uhlich, Slant Magazine
Trivia:
"...Thirteen Years Later" is noteworthy in that it is arguably the only
episode of the series to feature major celebrities in guest starring
roles. The Fox network proposed inserting the band members of KISS
into an episode of Millennium. While the show's staff was
initially resistant to the idea, writer Michael R. Perry realized that
KISS might be integrated into his Halloween-themed episode in a manner
that would be in keeping with the spirit of the story.
Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss,
and Ace Frehley appear not only in their legendary personas during the
sequence featuring the band's song "Psycho Circus," each of the four
band members also has an individual cameo during the course of the
episode. Simmons appears as Hector Leachman, Stanley as director Lew Carroll,
and Criss and Frehley as unnamed police officers.
Perry envisioned a brilliant
addition to this episode's ending that was, ultimately, conceptualized
too late to be included. "The one regret we had in 'Thirteen Years
Later' was that we missed a chance to kill both main characters,"
Perry has said. "Since the entire episode was the ravings of a madman,
we could easily have shot and killed both main characters in the
climax. Alas, I didn't think of that until we were editing, and at
that point we had no money to re-shoot."
This
episode contains a
tribute to one Fox
network censor that was particularly cooperative when dealing with the
Millennium staff. The quote that begins the episode, credited to
Reverend M. Goodman, was created as a deliberate nod to Morry Goodman.
Michael R. Perry has noted that Goodman was
one of the censors working on the show's third season and that he
often gave the series great leeway when it came to presenting the gore, violence, and sexuality
inherent to the show's stories.
Death Toll:
7
Title:
As the episode's title
implies, this story takes place thirteen years after Frank Black
investigated the murders that inspired the film. The number seems
appropriate considering thirteen's superstitious associations.
Soundtrack:
"Psycho Circus" by KISS
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Frank Black
Klea Scott as Emma Hollis
Guest Starring:
Gene Simmons as Himself/Hector Leachman
Paul Stanley as Himself/Lew Carroll
Peter Criss as Himself/Trinity Cop #2
Ace Frehley as Himself/Trinity Cop #1
Jeff Yagher as Mark Bianco
Stefan Arngrim as Hugo Winston
Matthew Walker as Sir Douglas Latham
Morgan Brayton as the Assistant Director
Crystal Cass as Mary O'Flanagan
Cavan Cunningham as John Wang
Andre Danyliu as Mayor Dooley
Guy Fauchon as Movie Sheriff
Dana Grahame as Sarah Cryer
Ted Kozma as Kenny Neiderman
Kate Luyben as Marta Danbury
Jim Pirri as Rowdy Beeman
Tanja Reichert as Ruby Dahl
Donnelley Rhodes as Sheriff Neuenschwander
Edmond Kato Wong as Don Morton
Production
Credits:
Production #6C05
Music by Mark Snow
Production Designer Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography Robert McLachlan
Associate Producer Jon-Michael Preece
Co-Producer Robert Moresco
Co-Producer Paul Rabwin
Producer Thomas J. Wright
Co-Executive Producer Ken Horton
Co-Executive Producer John Peter Kousakis
Executive Producer Chip Johannessen
Executive Producer Michael Duggan
Executive Producer Chris Carter
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