The new horror-comedy M3GAN is full of conscious, obvious throwbacks to other movies, but none as foundational as 1988’s CHILD’S PLAY. Director Tom Holland and writer Don Mancini’s now-iconic villain Chucky was not horror’s first killer doll, nor its last, and his legacy has evolved along with the franchise, but his origins as a dark, opportunistic satire of ’80s consumerism links him directly to the ideas animating M3GAN. So we begin our killer-doll double feature by revisiting those original animating ideas in CHILD’S PLAY, to consider what motivates Chucky in both human and doll form, the contemporaneous culture that shaped him, and whether it all adds up to an experience that’s scary and/or funny today. Plus, we take on an alternate pairing for TÁR and an alternate reading of KNIVES OUT in Feedback.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about CHILD’S PLAY, M3GAN, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Outro music: “Get Back Home,” by The Cabbage Patch Kids

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices