Shudder Acquires Girls’ Trip Thriller ‘Find Your Friends’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Shudder has acquired “Find Your Friends,” the feature debut of writer and director Izabel Pakzad. The film stars Bella Thorne (“Divinity”), Chloe Cherry (“Euphoria”), Helena Howard (“Madeline’s Madeline”), Sophia Ali (“Uncharted”), Zion Moreno (“Gossip Girl”). “Find Your Friends”will be released on Shudder on June 12.

It follows Amber and her four best friends as they flee Los Angeles for a girls’ trip in Joshua Tree, only to find themselves unwelcome in a desert town simmering with barely concealed hostility. After their encounters with the locals grow more threatening, resentments within the group begin to surface. Eventually their vacation spirals into a violent struggle for control and survival.

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In an interview with Variety, Pakzad said she was inspired to make the movie because of a terrifying experience she had on a similar getaway to Joshua Tree with friends.

“The Airbnb was on a dead end, of course. So you pull out of the driveway, and there’s this green Mustang that’s waiting outside on the street,” she said. “He puts his brights on, turns his car and blocks me into the dead end. Immediately, I knew something was weird … this feels premeditated, something is wrong. On instinct, I just took the car and drove around him — right on the neighbor’s lawn — and just started speeding. But then it turned into a 100 m.p.h. car chase on the Joshua Tree freeway, where he was trying to swerve into my car, swerve me off the road. We were trying to call the police, but we had no service. Eventually, we saw a car in the distance and I just started calling for help and honking, and then he ended up turning around. But it was the most terrifying seven minutes of my life.”

“Find Your Friends’ had its world premiere at Fantasia Film Festival as one of the festival’s headliners, and additionally screened at the Toronto International Film Festival as one of 10 Industry Selects, followed by its US premiere at Fantastic Fest. The deal includes rights in North America, UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Australia, and New Zealand.

Pakzad is an Iranian-Greek American filmmaker, writer, and actor. Her 2022 short film “Don’t Worry,” It’s Gonna Be OK,” which she directed, wrote and starred in, was an official selection at the Raindance Film Festival and Hollyshorts, and also won Best Short Film at the L.A. Film Festival. Previously, Pakzad produced and starred in the independent feature, “Thena,” opposite Chris Bauer, Virginia Gardner, Brian Marc and Will Peltz. “Thena” had its world premiere at Taormina Film Festival in June 2025.

“Shudder champions work that refuses to play by the rules and challenges everything we think young women should be in genre films. My hope was to make a film that audiences find to be raw, unapologetic and bold and I am so grateful to be partners with them, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect home for ‘Find Your Friends,'” said Pakzad.

“We’re thrilled to share ‘Find Your Friends,’ a visceral film that begins as an escape into the stark beauty of the desert and quickly descends into a gripping struggle where paranoia, resentment, and survival collide,” said Emily Gotto, senior vice president of acquisitions and productions at Shudder. “Audiences should prepare for an intense, emotionally charged experience that rethinks the trope of the final girl.”

“Find Your Friends” is produced by Allison Friedman, Andrea Iervolino, Luca Matrundola, Monika Bacardi, Gary Michael Walters and Pakzad. Thorne serves as executive producer. The deal was negotiated by Shudder with CAA on behalf of the filmmakers. WTFilms is handling international sales.

Here’s an exclusive clip: