 Victor Salva (qv) wrote the whole "Every 23 years for 23 days it  gets to eat" rule in the first movie so there would be no sequel  unless the movie was set in the future, and knew the studio wouldnt  want that. However Francis Ford Coppola (qv) found an easy  loophole in the rule for the sequel: set it during the same 23 days  as the first movie. So this film is set on the 23rd day for the  purpose of not making another sequel.