The new TRAP, like so many M. Night Shyamalan movies, openly courts comparisons to the work of Alfred Hitchcock, but its focus on the large-scale manhunt for a serial killer combined with its psychological interest in said killer has roots even further back in film history. So this week we reach all the way back to Fritz Lang’s first talkie, 1931’s M, to see how it frames the search for a compulsive child murderer decades before the term “serial killer” existed, and sort through the film’s many distinctive and influential elements, from its pessimistic view of law and order to its iconic whistling motif. Then in Feedback, a listener prompt gets us feeling nostalgic for some of our favorite and/or formative theatrical experiences.

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

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