STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This day, Friday, is the day before Valentine's Day. You are welcome for the reminder. This is also Friday the 13th, which is a big day for horror movies.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: The deadliest day of the year.
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INSKEEP: That was from a trailer from one of the "Friday The 13th" movies that came out on Friday the 13th, 1988. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports on whether that release date is good or a bad omen.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Friday the 13th has often meant "Friday The 13th" movies, the ones that feature a fearsome fellow in a hockey mask.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Jason.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, screaming).
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Jason.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Jason.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Jason will have jumped into a new body by now.
ULABY: So many Jason movies. Five of the 12 of them were actually released on Friday the 13th, including "Part VII," "Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday" and a 2009 reboot of the story. But does a release date on Friday the 13th mean a killing at the box office for horror films?
STEPHEN FOLLOWS: I don't think it has a huge effect financially.
ULABY: Stephen Follows is a film data analyst who writes the online Horror Movie Report. He says some scary movies that come out on Friday the 13th have done fantastically, like "Evil Dead II" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula." Others? Flops. DOA.
FOLLOWS: The Friday the 13th thing is cute, and it's fun, and it might help provide a spine to the marketing, but it's not going to radically transform the numbers.
ULABY: February and March are strong for horror movies. We are in, forgive me, a dead time of year. Oscar contenders have generally left the theaters, and it's not yet summer tentpole season. Right now, we have two consecutive Friday the 13ths in February and in March, with several horror movies opening each day. The last time that happened in 2015, horror fans got a hit with a small independent film called "It Follows"...
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MAIKA MONROE: (As Jay) What's going on?
KEIR GILCHRIST: (As Paul) There's nothing in the house, Jay.
ULABY: ...About a girl stalked by a supernatural presence.
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MONROE: (As Jay, crying) I saw it.
ULABY: Even though "It Follows" was not playing in many theaters, it raked in money on its opening weekend in March on Friday the 13th. This Friday the 13th brings a horror comedy film called "Cold Storage"...
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #6: (As character) We're getting a temperature breach alert from a decommissioned facility.
ULABY: ...That allows a horrifying parasite to liberate itself from an abandoned military base.
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JOE KEERY: (As Travis) That's not natural.
ULABY: "Cold Storage" will likely do well, says Stephen Follows, more from its proximity to Valentine's Day than Friday the 13th. Horror movies, he suggests, can make for thrilling dates.
FOLLOWS: I don't think it's a very good first date. I think that's quite brave. And if you don't know anything about the person, perhaps skip that one.
ULABY: And our next Friday the 13th, coming up fast in March, brings a movie about a haunted podcast.
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NINA KIRI: (As Evy) Welcome to the "Undertone" podcast, where we talk about all things creepy.
ULABY: "Undertone" is from the studio A24, known for marketing edgy movies. Stephen Follows says increasingly, we go to the cinema because of an event - a Taylor Swift concert movie or a "Lord Of The Rings" marathon. So it's increasingly sensible, he says, to play up Friday the 13th as the reason for family or friends to buy tickets.
FOLLOWS: Most people say, you know what? I don't usually see a horror film, but you've convinced me. It's Friday the 13th. Let's all go. So it does speak to how cinemagoing is evolving.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #7: (As character, screaming).
ULABY: When life outside the theater feels scary and out of control, he adds, sometimes seeing horror films can feel oddly reassuring.
Neda Ulaby, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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