Glossary
28 Days, 6 Hours, 42 Minutes, 12 Seconds
Frank's countdown: the exact lifespan of the Tangent Universe, announced to Donnie on the night of October 2 and ending in the early hours of October 30, 1988.
"Wake up. I've been watching you. Come closer. 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds. That is when the world will end." Frank can give the figure because, as one of the Manipulated Dead, he is speaking from the other end of the Tangent Universe, after his own death.
Counting forward from around midnight on October 2, the Tangent Universe collapses shortly before 7 a.m. on October 30 - the morning after the Halloween party, as the plane carrying Rose and Samantha Darko flies into the storm.
The numbers themselves are a running fan puzzle: 28 + 6 + 42 + 12 = 88, the year of the film and the speed, in miles per hour, of a certain DeLorean.
Defined in The Philosophy of Time Travel