River's Edge

Unrated

10/31/19861h 40m

Premiere Release (US)

~ Which was worse? The murder or what came after? ~

Overview:

A group of high-school friends must come to terms with the fact that one of them, Samson, killed another, Jamie. Faced with the brutality of death, each must decide whether to turn their friend in to the police, or to help him escape the consequences of his dreadful deed.

Director:

Tim Hunter

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$1,900,000.00

Revenue:

$4,600,000.00

Key words:

drug dealer
high school
police
gun
friends
murder
dead body
drugs
apathy
secret
teenager

Cast

Crispin Glover

~ as ~

Layne

Keanu Reeves

~ as ~

Matt

Ione Skye

~ as ~

Clarissa

Roxana Zal

~ as ~

Maggie

Daniel Roebuck

~ as ~

Samson

Dennis Hopper

~ as ~

Feck

Joshua John Miller

~ as ~

Tim

Tom Bower

~ as ~

Bennett

Danyi Deats

~ as ~

Jamie

Constance Forslund

~ as ~

Madeleine

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

John Chard
Written 5 year(s) ago
7
Did the sight of this dead girl move you in any particular way?

River's Edge is directed by Director: Tim Hunter and written by Neal Jimenez. It stars Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Daniel Roebuck, Dennis Hopper, Joshua John Miller, Roxana Zal and Josh Richman, Music is by Jürgen Knieper and cinematography by Frederick Elmes.

When a group of high school friends discover that one of their social group has murdered another - his girlfriend - they all react in various ways...

Based on an actual murder incident in 1981, "River's Edge" is a deeply unsettling film in how it probes the troubling underbelly of American youth. Naturally considered controversal at the time of release, it is however a fascinatingly brave portrait of disaffected youth via home and school life. The various reactions each member of the group serve up is chilling whilst baffling considering the reality of it all.

The screenplay is high quality because it doesn't demonise the "kids" for their bizzare response to a tragedy in there circle, instead we get complex characterisations that are smartly portrayed by the young cast. They in turn are bolstered by another edgy off the wall turn by Hopper (he did Blue Velvet as well this year), where his ex biker drug peddler also has a murder in his past and has given his love to a blow-up doll named Ellie.

Troubling in many ways, a sort of nihlistic youth apocalypse that's amazingly handled with a calm honesty, this still decades later remains an important film. 7.5/10