"...Thirteen Years Later" proved a difficult episode to produce, with filming requiring a large number of shots to be completed and the script to be adjusted on short notice.
The production continues, and after the filming of a pool scene the crew gather in catering; Beeman discovers a severed finger in his sandwich, recognizing from its ring that it belonged to Niederman.
Black doubts that Winston is the killer, and while Hollis stays in the hotel, he visits the production's climactic shoot, set during a performance by the band Kiss.
As he looks around him, the sheriff's body is thrown down from the rafters; as the pandemonium settles, Black realizes that horror films end with the leading lady being targeted—the killer is after Hollis.
[4] The episode features guest appearances by the members of the band Kiss—Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley—who each portray both themselves and a small cameo role.
[8] That Frank and Emma try to solve the case by watching horror movies is a funny idea, but only demonstrates that the likes of Halloween and Friday the 13th are engaging and suspenseful in a way that this clumsy farrago of in-jokes can never be.
[12] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "...Thirteen Years Later" one star out of five.
He considered the episode's characters to too shallow and its commentary to be too heavy-handed to fully execute anything meaningful; criticism was also levelled at the guest roles by the members of Kiss.