Detective Sam Wagner’s job is never easy. Even an average day proves stressful for him and his family. But this is no ordinary day for Wagner (Joseph Cotten) or his wife Lila (Rhonda Fleming).

After pegging a recent bank robbery as an inside job orchestrated by mild-mannered clerk Leon Poole (played by a bespectacled Wendell Corey), Wagner heads to the suspect’s apartment to make the arrest expecting him to be alone. Instead, Poole’s beloved wife is with him and caught in the crossfire of a shootout leaving her dead.

Sent to prison, and believing Wagner is responsible for his wife’s death, Poole is desperate for revenge. Escape and murder soon follow with the haunting Poole bent on taking away the woman Wagner loves. Will the detective and his men save her in time?

Helmed by the gritty Budd Boetticher, The Killer is Loose takes the director’s unique visual style away from the plains and into the world of suburbia for this taut and suspenseful thriller. Close your windows, lock your doors — The Killer is Loose!

For thoughts on The Killer Is Loose, please check out my piece on The Video Attic:

Video Quality

The Killer Is Loose makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to ClassicFlix with a brand new 1080p master that is pretty strong overall. The restoration shows off a fantastic amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. The clothing and the production design showcase a lovely amount of detail and textures that is showcased quite well on screen. The white levels experience very little in the way of blooming, and the natural film grain resolves well throughout most of the runtime. Black levels remain strong with no noticeable abundance of black crush or compression artifacts. The moody black-and-white photography shines in high definition with impressive contrast and natural grain intact. The track does experience a subtle amount of minor nicks and scratches, but these moments are fleeting with the biggest dips in quality showing up in the optical dissolves. ClassicFlix continues to find hidden gems of the past and shines them up for a new generation.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a decent DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that makes the most of its source limitations. The film is mostly dialogue driven with snappy banter and some distinct environmental sounds from the time on the run after the prison break. This track does present some brief moments of age related wear and tear, mostly when it comes to the score, but on the whole things remain solid and enjoyable. The music never comes across as overbearing in relation to other important information. Dialogue and background noises are in harmony with all the disparate elements so that fidelity is always maintained. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film. The folks at ClassicFlix have delivered something as strong as possible here.

Special Features

There are no special features provided on this disc.

Final Thoughts

The Killer Is Loose is a pretty terrific, gritty thriller which knows how to ratchet up tension effectively. Wendell Corey is no stranger to antagonistic roles, but this performance is the most unsettling we have seen from the talented performer yet. The remainder of the ensemble likewise deliver some memorable turns, including Joseph Cotten as the light to Corey’s darkness. The film is very brief which allows it to never give the audience much of a respite as we wait to see who is going to make it out of this situation alive. ClassicFlix has released a Blu-Ray featuring a good A/V presentation but nothing in the way of special features. This does not feel like a title that has ever been shown much appreciation, but it is one well worth discovering. Recommended

The Killer Is Loose is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: ClassicFlix has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.