Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Killer Is Loose Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 15, 2025

Budd Boetticher's "The Killer is Loose" (1956) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by critic and screenwriter Gary Gerani and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The only thing that matters in my life is you. It's always been this way.

You will like or dislike Budd Boetticher’s The Killer is Loose for the same reasons you will like or dislike his famous westerns with Randolph Scott. No, The Killer is Loose is not set in an unknown yet striking corner of the Wild West. It does not casually produce visuals making it look like a much bigger film. And, perhaps most importantly, it does not have a big star like Scott, instantly establishing a presence that shapes its identity.

The Killer is Loose is a film noir that values pragmatism and authenticity as much as the famous westerns with Scott. It, too, has characters that operate on both sides of the law which, again, are not conventional good and bad characters whose words and actions constantly widen the gap that separates them and force the viewer to judge them accordingly. These characters are not extensions of their environment either. As a result, they do not have symbolic value and cannot be used to frame society as the biggest baddie. In other words, just like in the famous westerns with Scott, all characters are independent individuals who think, act, and face the consequences of their actions as real people would in the real world.

The drama is unleashed immediately after the opening credits disappear. While helping a customer, bank teller Leon Poole (Wendell Corey) finds himself right smack in the middle of an intense robbery that leaves him with a bump on his head. Or, so it appears. Later, while wiretapping his apartment, the police discover that Poole was working with the robbers, and Detective Sam Wagner (Joseph Cotten) and several of his colleagues show up to arrest him. However, while breaking into Poole’s apartment, Wagner accidentally guns down his wife, which proves to be an unfortunate error that transforms the former into a hurt and disillusioned animal determined to avenge her death. Soon after, even though his loss is acknowledged in court, Poole is handed a harsh sentence.

Poole effectively hides the transformation for several years and eventually convinces a gullible prison superintendent to let him work on a farm field with minimal supervision. At the right time, he kills a guard, steals a delivery truck, and escapes. Then, as the authorities discover his disappearance and begin tracking him down, Poole carefully approaches Wagner’s home. His plan is not to take Wagner’s life, but to permanently remove the most important person in it and ruin it, which is the only revenge that seems fair to him. The most important person in Wagner’s life is his beautiful but clueless wife, Lila (Rhonda Fleming), who is on the verge of giving up on their marriage because he has decided to risk his life in yet another job that someone else should worry about.

There isn’t a shortage of great film noirs that value pragmatism and authenticity as much as The Killer is Loose. For example, Jules Dassin’s Night and the City and Robert Wise’s Odds Against Tomorrow both tell their stories in extremely similar ways. However, both films have leads that exist and effectively lead in a very particular, rather striking criminal environment, which is why the classic dark atmosphere film noirs are associated with and remembered for quickly materializes in them. These are masterfully constructed films, where pragmatism and authenticity are carefully managed to support their dark atmosphere. In The Killer is Loose, this crucial management is missing, and its pragmatism and authenticity are byproducts of Boetticher’s fondness of cinematic minimalism. It is an important distinction. It is why The Killer is Loose frees its characters to be fully independent and, ultimately, looks like a smaller film noir.

But it is not a smaller film noir. It is a typical Boetticher film that happens to be a film noir. As such, it is effective and attractive precisely because it does not embellish the slice of reality it uses as its narrative.

Boetticher worked with one of the great cinematographers of the last decade, Lucien Ballard, who lensed Sam Panckinpah’s two biggest films, The Wild Bunch and The Getaway.

The Killer Is Loose Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Killer is Loose arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The Killer Is Loose made its high-definition debut with this release produced by ClassicFlix in 2017. I have the original release in my library.

Kino Lorber's release is sourced from the ClassicFlix's remaster of the film. I think that the remaster is good, and when the original release was announced, I was very happy because I had hoped to upgrade a pretty underwhelming older DVD release. I placed the original release on my Top Ten list in 2017. However, I must mention a couple of things.

The overall quality of the remaster is very similar to that of the one that was prepared for Pitfall. As a result, The Killer is Loose looks much better than it did on DVD. However, while the remaster is very nice, the technical presentation is not as convincing as it needed to be. On the original release, there are several areas with light yer noticeable chroma noise of the kind that emerges during improper conversation. I was quite certain that this issue will not be present on this release. However, much to my surprise, it may even be more prominent. What am I referring to exactly? You can see examples of the chroma noise here and here. The green/greenish bits all over the image are it. So, either the remaster was improperly finalized, or this release replicates the encoding of the previous release. On my system, I could make a few quick adjustments that dramatically minimize chroma noise and can forget about it, but it is there. The rest I am happy with. Yes, there are some density fluctuations here and there, impacting delineation and clarity, but there are no traces of problematic digital corrections. As a result, all visuals retain a nice filmic appearance. The grayscale is good. There are no stability issues. Also, there are no large distracting cuts, debris, marks, warped or torn frames to report.

So, should you consider an upgrade if you already have the original release of The Killer is Loose? No. The film does not look better on this release. In fact, I think that in a few spots, for some reason, the earlier mentioned chroma noise is a tad more prominent. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Killer Is Loose Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is very good. For obvious reasons, its dynamic amplitude is not impressive, but clarity, sharpness, and depth are as good as you can expect from a film shot in the early 1950s. Also, there isn't any busy action material where there are good opportunities for the lossless track to shine. The busiest such material is at the end, and it is very short. The music is given a basic supporting role. The upper register is a bit thin, revealing light unevenness, but there are no troubling anomalies to report.

The Killer Is Loose Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic and screenwriter Gary Gerani. It has plenty of information about Budd Boetticher's directing style, the stylistic appearance of his films, actual location in LA that were used in The Killer is Loose, the casual nature of its narrative, and its stars and their performances. Also, there is some quite interesting information about the film's present location, which is MGM's vaults, which was not its original home.

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for The Killer Is Loose. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

The Killer Is Loose Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If compared to its notorious relatives, The Killer is Loose is easy to misinterpret as a small film. However, it is shot with the same fondness of minimalism that the famous Ranown westerns are, emphasizing pragmatism and authenticity in a special way, so it is a typical Budd Boetticher film. I like it quite a lot, and when it was made available on Blu-ray several years ago, I placed it on my Top Ten list. However, while the remaster that was prepared for it is very nice, I think that the technical presentation of it on Blu-ray could have been more convincing. RECOMMENDED.