We all have hazy memories of drunken escapades with college roommates or a last minute road trip out of town, though Find Your Friends takes this premise to the extreme. Premiering at Fantasia Film Festival in 2025, Find Your Friends is the directorial debut by Izabel Pakzad. On an annual girls’ trip to Joshua Tree, five friends have sole intentions to get drunk, get high, and party in the desert. After stumbling across male locals that aren’t particularly welcoming of their company, what’s meant to be a fun-filled weekend turns into a gamble for revenge.
Starting off at a local yacht party, friends Amber, Lavinia, Zosia, Lola and Maddy (Helena Howard, Bella Thorne, Zión Moreno, Chloe Cherry and Sophia Ali, respectively) are simply looking to have a good time. However, a ploy to get Amber’s ex-boyfriend jealous by making out with a random stranger turns into an unwelcomed sexual assault scenario after she’s left alone with Tye (Blaine Kern III), her friends unaware of her hesitation and her resulting change of behavior. While the former portion of the film is tense and believable, Pakzad’s project jumps off the deep end pretty quickly after that. Scene after scene of substance abuse has a near numbing effect on the viewer as the quintet searches for the next big physiological hit.
Utilizing jerky camera movements and bass heavy club music, Find Your Friends has no trouble placing its audience at the scene of late night parties where time doesn’t exist and excess is a given. Consuming shot after shot as the first course, cocaine, molly and an assortment of drugs are inevitable to follow. As much as drugs and alcohol aren’t to blame for violence and unwanted behavior against women, the film is equally frustrating in its carelessness and superficiality between the girls’ supposed care and love towards one another. The girls give each other tipsy confidence boosters before their big night out, slurring how much success they’re going to have in the future when it comes to their careers and income. When Amber is continually ignored, blamed and essentially ruining a good time based on her assault experiences with men throughout their party-filled weekend, the film suddenly switches gears in the latter portion with her friends having her back, and Amber stepping up to assert violence and retribution back towards the male figures who’ve hurt her the most. While certainly strong in some elements for a feature debut, Find Your Friends generally left me entirely exasperated wondering why the film wasn’t instead titled Find Your New Friends.
Find Your Friends will stream on Shudder on Friday, June 12th.
