<Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $4.6 million </Td> </Tr> <P> River's Edge is a 1986 American independent crime film directed by Tim Hunter, written by Neal Jimenez, and starring Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, 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 . Screenwriter Jimenez partially based the film's script on the 1981 murder of Marcy Renee Conrad in Milpitas, California . </P> <P> Shot in Los Angeles in 1986, the film premiered that year at the Toronto International Film Festival before being purchased for distribution by Island Pictures, who gave the film a theatrical release in the United States in May 1987 . Several critics praised the film's performances, and its subject matter resulted in it being classified by several critics as a contemporary - day horror film . It was awarded Best Picture at the 1986 Independent Spirit Awards . </P> <P> 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 . In a 2015 retrospective, Salon deemed it "the darkest teen film of all time ." The film features an original score by Jürgen Knieper, as well as a soundtrack featuring songs from various punk and metal bands, including Slayer, Agent Orange, and the Wipers . </P>

Where was the movie river's edge filmed