| River's Edge | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tim Hunter |
| Written by | Neal Jimenez |
| Produced by | Sarah Pillsbury Midge Sanford |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Frederick Elmes |
| Edited by | Howard E. Smith Sonya Sones |
| Music by | Jürgen Knieper |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Island Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.7 million[1] |
| Box office | $4.6 million[2] |
River's Edge is a 1986 American crime drama film directed by Tim Hunter, written by Neal Jimenez, and starring Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye Leitch in her film debut, Daniel Roebuck and Dennis Hopper. It follows a group of teenagers in a Northern California town who are forced to deal with their friend's murder of his girlfriend and the subsequent disposal of her body. Jimenez partially based the script on the 1981 murder of Marcy Renee Conrad in Milpitas, California.
Shot in Los Angeles in 1986, the film premiered that year at the Toronto International Film Festival before Island Pictures purchased it for distribution, theatrically releasing it in the United States in May 1987. Several critics praised the film's performances, and its subject matter resulted in several critics classifying it as a contemporary horror film. It was awarded Best Picture at the 1986 Independent Spirit Awards.
Contemporary film scholars have noted River's Edge as an example of the "killer kid" film, as well as one of the most polarizing youth-oriented films of the 1980s.[3][4] In a 2015 retrospective, Salon deemed it "the darkest teen film of all time."[5] The film has an original score by Jürgen Knieper, as well as a soundtrack featuring songs from various punk and metal bands, including Slayer, Fates Warning, Agent Orange, and the Wipers.