Why so much hype?

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I recorded this off Turner Classic Movies because my research uncovered some good reviews and because the premise of the movie sounded promising. After watching it, I would label it an okay movie, nothing more or less. The movie does get some things right. The climax of the movie is fairly tense (even though the Production Code at the time makes what happens pretty predictable), and Wendell Corey makes for an intriguing villain, being weak at times while at other times being pretty ruthless. But there's a problem with his character - I don't think that there's quite enough time devoted to this character. I think a few more scenes showing him unfold his plans for vengeance would have made his character stronger. Instead, the movie seems to be more interested in the lead cop character and his wife, which eventually gets to be quite tiresome, especially since the wife doesn't come across as totally likable (or smart). But the movie is never dull, and has some really good moments (the best being when the Corey character confronts an old army acquaintance). So when you balance the good and bad stuff, the movie ends up being okay.

By the Mid 1950's the Stylish, Expressionistic, and Piercing Pictures called Film-Noir were Out of Favor because of the Less Pessimistic Persona of a Suburban Saturated Society that began to heavily Influence American Pop Culture.The Urban Environment was becoming increasingly more Lower Class and that generally is unattractive to Movie Audiences of the Main Stream who were now, more than ever, Isolating Themselves in a Coating of a Prefabricated Paradise.This Film was one that Transplanted the Noir Sensibility out of the City and in to Nice Homes with Lawns and Shiny Kitchen Appliances, TV sets, and Marital Myopia. But Uh-Oh, Not as Safe as it Seems. "The Killer is Loose" and He is about to Upset "Utopia".The Director's (Budd Bottechier) Edgy Style combined with a very Convincing Cross-Dressing, Catatonic who Talks to Himself and Viciously and Violently acts in a Detached, very Modern Serial-Killer Sociopathic Trance is Disturbingly Delivered and the Shadows in the Post-Modern Soul cannot be Illuminated by the Brightly Lit "Fenced" Community and all of its Electric Eccentricities.A Tale of Things to Come.

Wendell Corey, mousy bank clerk plans the bank holdup and is holed up in his apartment where Joseph Cotton, good cop, goes to arrest him. In the confusion Cotton accidentally kills Corey's wife. Corey snaps and vows to get even with Cotton as he is being sent up to the big house. Fast forward three years. Corey is a trustee on a farm, kills a guard and a farmer and escapes to L.A. He's a totally psycho nut job by now and very, very effective portrays it. We find out he is bent no so much on killing Cotton but killing Cotton's wife, the very miscast Rhonda Fleming. Lots a neat action and very suspenseful 20 minute ending. Never even heard of this flick until saw in on streaming Netflix. Great L.A.exteriors and over-all production. See it if you can.

"The Killer is Loose" is a 1956 B film directed by Budd Boetticher, and it's pretty good. It stars Wendell Corey as Leon Poole, a man who is working in a bank when a robbery occurs. It doesn't take long for the police to determine that he's the inside man. They go to his house to arrest him, and he refuses to answer the door, shooting through it. The police break in, the lights are off, and Detective Wagner (Joseph Cotten) sees a form emerging from the bedroom and shoots, killing Poole's wife. When Poole is sentenced, he promises to pay Wagner back for killing her.I've never understood what happened to Joseph Cotten's career, but by the '50s, he was appearing in B movies after being part of so many important films in the '40s. He's good in this, as is the beautiful Rhonda Fleming, who plays his wife. Corey is excellent as Poole, a disturbed man with a flat affect; he never knew any happiness until he got married and goes crazy when his wife is taken from him.Good noir.