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 .