In Find Your Friends, a girls' trip descends into a nightmare (spoiler-free review)

Image courtesy of IFC and Shudder

Writer/director Izabel Pakzad's feature debut, Find Your Friends, shows what happens when college students visit the desert for what should be a harmless getaway and locals turn against them. Beyond that familiar horror trope, it's also a movie about sexual trauma and how the lead character, Amber (Helena Howard), processes it and eventually fights back against the locals. The movie certainly ups the ante and revenge by the last 25 minutes.

The film begins when Amber and her friends party on a boat. This sequence goes on for a good 20 minutes, with close-ups, blaring music, and college students swallowing shot after shot. One of the men takes Amber to a more secluded area and pins her to the bed. Despite the fact she tells him no over and over again, he continually advances on her and kisses her, until she kicks him. This causes Amber and her friends, Zola (Chloe Cherry), Lavinia (Bella Thorne), Maddy (Sophia Ali), and Zosia (Zion Moreno), to face ostracization by everyone else on the boat, especially after Amber confronts the abuser and retaliates. There's a really powerful and harrowing sequence where, as the young women are leaving, a group of men stand on the deck of the boat and shout derogatory terms at them. This foreshadows what they'll encounter later on and also underscores the film's overall address of sexual assault.

Yet, this sequence is followed by a counterweight in which the girls hug each other and support each other. They imagine what they'll all do after college and promise huge successes for each other. It shows just how strong the friend group is. They face more danger, however, when they take a trip to the Joshua Tree and encounter redneck locals who leer at them, threaten them, and nearly run them off the road in a pick-up truck.

Find Your Friends is a movie that bases its horror in reality, specifically in sexual assault and what women way too often have to deal with. Howard's performance as Amber, and the way that she deals with past trauma, is one of the film's strengths. Howard gives a compelling performance, and by the film's conclusion, she becomes a steely character, willing to enact revenge.

The rest of the characters aren't nearly as well-defined as Amber, unfortunately. It's true that the women have a few bonding moments that shed light on characters other than Amber, but it's not quite enough to make them stand out or prevent them from blending together. Even Bella Thorne's performance in this film feels mostly muted and reduced to the background. The script could have used more work in terms of drawing out each individual character, including their own wants and needs.

Additionally, a few of the party scenes, especially early in the film, drone on for a little too long. That said, the film's second half, when the women face off against the locals, is much more riveting, with a quicker pace and some truly startling and surprising moments, especially how far Amber is willing to go.

Overall, Find Your Friends is a decent feature debut that handles its heavy subject matter well. It has an engaging second half but could have used much more character development and a slightly stronger script.

Find Your Friends is now streaming on Shudder.

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