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The terror is palpable in “Find Your Friends,” the feature debut from writer-director Izabel Pakzad.

Like the group of young women in the adult-language-filled, alcohol-and-drugs-fueled and ultimately quite gory movie debuting this week on the horror-centric streaming service Shudder, she was once part of a friend group who, while caught up in constant partying, ventured to California’s Joshua Tree to mellow out in the desert but ended up being chased by a group of men.

That she is speaking from experience comes through in the movie, but “Find Your Friends” lacks the focus and depth needed to recommend it to anyone beyond devotees of Shudder fare.

There is no shortage of problematic and/or toxic young men in the uneven “Find Your Friends,” which centers around Los Angeles college friends Amber (Helena Howard), Lavinia (Bella Thorne), Zosia (Zión Moreno), Lola (Chloe Cherry) and Maddy (Sophia Ali). We meet them boozing it up at a yacht party, where Amber is encouraged by the ladies to hook up with a cute guy who takes an interest in her. She’s not far removed from a breakup, though, and isn’t interested — that is, until the ex shows up with his gal pal of the moment.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a hookup.

Sadly, it goes badly — very badly for Amber, the guy proving to be but the first of the film’s many believably gigantic jerks.

The intoxicated Amber responds understandably — if also violently — and it’s quickly time for the group to disembark.

Maybe Amber shouldn’t go out to Joshua Tree with them, one of the girls suggests, but Amber says she needs this, and soon the quintet is headed east.

At their rental property, they immediately begin the important business of alcohol consumption as they blast music, quickly making a foe out of a neighbor, Russell (Chris Bauer, “The Wire”), who expresses some not-so-nice thoughts about people like them who come there to party and seemingly have no consideration for the area’s residents.

That night, they’re partying with a group of musicians, Amber getting to know — and soon kissing — one of them, Coby (Harrison Sloan Gilbertson). However, she has flashbacks to her previous ordeal and aggressively pushes him away, much to his confusion.

This repeated behavior by Amber — who did not reveal to her friends all the horrific details of the event on the yacht — is beginning to irritate the other four. She wants them to leave, but the others are having a good time drinking and cozying up to men, so she ends up attempting to leave on her own.

Let’s just say that doesn’t go well for her and, eventually, the others will come to believe what she said about being chased by a group of men in a truck.

For a while, though, we get mostly a bunch of arguments interlaced with moments of closeness among the other girls and Amber. For example, one moment Maddy is all, ‘Let me love on you!,” but soon she and Amber are at each other’s throats. There is a realism to this, of course, but it’s not exactly a joy to watch.

Despite solid performances from Howard (“I Saw the TV Glow”), Thorne (“Saint Clare”), Moreno (“Gossip Girl”), Cherry (“Euphoria”) and Ali (“The Wilds”), not much beyond the bouts of partying is fun about “Find Your Friends,” including its conclusion. That’s not exactly a criticism — the film addresses some actual dangers that exist today — but a viewer should understand that before pressing play.

Ultimately, Pakzad — an actor and maker of the award-winning short film “Don’t Worry, It’s Gonna Be OK” — succeeds in illustrating how difficult it can be for women to feel safe, even when sticking together, which truly is a horror.

“Find Your Friends” could have used a bit more than that, but, if you’re a Shudder subscriber, you may want to give it a chance.

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‘FIND YOUR FRIENDS’

2 stars (out of 4)

Rating: TV-MA

Running time: 1:29

How to watch: On Shudder June 12

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