River's Edge – Camera Obscura (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1986
Director: Tim Hunter
Writer: Neal Jimenez
Cast: Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Roxana Zal, Daniel Roebuck, Joshua Miller, Dennis Hopper, Tom Bower, Constance Forslund, Leo Rossi, Phil Brock, Josh Richman, Danyi Deats

Release Date: March 29th, 2019
Approximate Running Time: 99 Minutes 44 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: FSK 16 (Germany)
Sound: LPCM Mono English, LPCM Mono German
Subtitles: English, German
Region Coding: Region B/Region 2 PAL
Retail Price: OOP

"Based on the horrifying real-life murder of a young California girl, this powerful portrait of deadly, disaffected teens stars Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Crispin Glover (Back to the Future), Ione Skye (Say Anything), Daniel Roebuck (The Fugitive), and Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet). On the bank of a river lies the naked body of a brutally murdered young girl. At the nearby high school, Samson (Roebuck) brags to Matt (Reeves) and his friends about how he killed her. Drunk and stoned, the doubting teens trudge to the river and discover that he isn’t lying. And oddly, they decide to protect Samson behind a loyal wall of secrecy. Tormented with guilt, Matt questions their silence… and suddenly finds himself in a troubling position: should he do what he thinks is right, or should he keep quiet and live with this demon for the rest of his life? Cult director Tim Hunter (The Saint of Fort Washington) helmed this haunting and chilling tale about disillusioned youth." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

River's Edge comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.5 GB

Feature: 29.6 GB

Although the transfer for this release uses the same master as Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray release, Camera Obscura has performed additional color grading. When compared to Kino Lorber’s transfer, Camera Obscura’s offers a more pleasing color saturation. Other areas of noticeable improvement include contrast, black levels, and image clarity. Grain remains intact, and there are no issues with compression.

Audio: 5/5 (LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in English and a LPCM mono mix in German. For this review I listened to the English language track, which sounds excellent. Dialogue always comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced and robust when it should. Included are removable English subtitles for the German language track and removable German subtitles for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include an image gallery with music from the film playing in the background (134 images - posters/home video art/other promotional materials/press reviews/lobby cards/stills), U.S. theatrical trailer (1 minute 58 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), German theatrical trailer (2 minutes 46 seconds, LPCM mono German, no subtitles), an interview with actor Daniel Roebuck titled Livin’ on the Edge (52 minutes, LPCM stereo English with non-removable German subtitles), an interview with cinematographer Frederick Elmes titled Under the Bridge (33 minutes 20 seconds, LPCM stereo English with non-removable German subtitles), and an audio commentary with director Tim Hunter, in English with optional German subtitles.

This release includes a DVD that contains the same content as the Blu-Ray included in this combo.

This release comes in mediabook packaging that contains a 12-page booklet with an essay about River’s Edge written by Marcus Stiglegger, with text in German.

Summary:

A high school student who’s murdered a classmate shows his friends the young girl’s corpse.

American cinema has explored dark themes; however, it frequently romanticizes these subjects. This tendency is particularly evident in its larger-than-life portrayal of unsympathetic characters. That said, it is ultimately the films that shine the light on darkness that are the most potent. For example, River’s Edge serves as a stark counterpoint to teenage life, presenting a portrayal that contrasts sharply with the depictions of teens in other 1980s films.

Instead of offering an idyllic glimpse of a bygone era, River’s Edge serves up a powerful allegory that foreshadows a world that now seems normal. Nihilism is not a problem that has gotten worse over time. It is something that has always been there, and River’s Edge is a perfect example of what can happen if such behavior is left unchecked. River’s Edge used a real-life event as its launching point. Adapting a real-life event is a challenging task, and inevitably, something may be lost in translation. However, River’s Edge successfully navigates these difficulties by crafting an adaptation that remains tonally faithful to its source.

For a film where everything falls into place perfectly, the exceptional performances are undoubtedly River’s Edge’s greatest asset, especially Daniel Roebuck’s (Cavegirl) utterly terrifying portrayal of Samson, the teenager who murders one of his classmates. Other performances of note include Crispin Glover’s (Back to the Future) maniacal portrayal of Layne, the self-appointed ringleader of a group of friends who agree to keep Samson’s murder a secret, and Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider) in the role of Feck, a drug dealer whose closest companion is a blowup doll, and Danyi Deats in the role of Jamie, the dead girl whose naked body has been left by the river.

River’s Edge’s premise explores what one would do when faced with making an obvious moral choice. Whether it be peer pressure or fear, initially none of the friends feel compelled to tell the authorities what they have seen. Despite being repulsed and horrified by what they see, their actions go against how they feel. Ultimately, what sets River’s Edge apart from other similarly themed films is its characters’ lack of morality.

Camera Obscura gives River's Edge its best home media release to date; highly recommended.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer