by Alex Billington
May 6, 2026
Source: YouTube
“The desert’s not just your playground. People actually live here. Have a good time, ladies.” Shudder has unveiled an official trailer for an indie thriller called Find Your Friends, marking the feature directorial debut of actress Izabel Pakzad. This first premiered at the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival last year and also played at a number of other genre festivals in the fall as well. Amber and her friends visit Joshua Tree for a fun girls’ trip but face hostility from locals as things start to get strange. As tensions escalate and Amber’s dark past surfaces, their rebellion ignites – turning the desert getaway into a jaw-dropping game of revenge. Starring Bella Thorne, Chloe Cherry, Helena Howard, Sophia Ali, Zión Moreno, Jake Manley, Israel Broussard, Harrison Sloan Gilbertson, and Chris Bauer. Early reviews are pretty good so far. One very positive review states: “Find Your Friends asks you to not just find your friends, but to meet them where they are, to see their trauma, and scream through it together.” Get a look at the intense trailer below.
Here’s the first official trailer for Izabel Pakzad’s thriller Find Your Friends, from Shudder’s YouTube:
Amber and her four best friends flee Los Angeles for a girls’ trip in Joshua Tree, only to find themselves unwelcome in a desert town simmering with quiet hostility. As isolation sets in and encounters with aggressive locals grow more threatening, festering resentments within the group begin to surface. What begins as fun and reckless escape spirals into a violent struggle for control and survival, as past wounds and present dangers collide in a night that turns their trip into a revenge-fueled nightmare. Find Your Friends is an indie film written and directed by American actress / filmmaker Izabel Pakzad, making her feature directorial debut after making one short film previously. It’s produced by Allison Friedman, Andrea Iervolino, Luca Matrundola, Monika Bacardi, Gary Michael Walters, Izabel Pakzad. This initially premiered at the 2025 Fantasia & Sitges Film Festivals last year. Shudder debuts Pakzad’s Find Your Friends thriller streaming on Shudder directly starting on June 12th, 2026 coming up this summer. Who wants to watch?
