What would you do?

I found this movie fairly entertaining. Not one I'd bother watching again, but I didn't finish it feeling like I wasted my time. Mainly, it got me thinking about what I would do if I were one of these girls (particularly Holly or Mel since Cali was the biggest part of the problem). I'd like to think that I would do the right thing from the start, but there's really no way to say for sure. You can never truly know how you'd handle a particular crisis until you're in the thick of it. But there are so many things they could have done differently anywhere along the way to avoid this series of events!

I get that these characters are young and naive college girls. Plus they had been smoking pot and drinking, so they weren't exactly clear headed. But regardless, I don't get how Holly or Mel allowed Cali to have so much control over the situation. I get that they were scared, but they just let her take the reins while they followed blindly until the end. I think that's mainly where I would have acted differently from any of these characters. If I were in Holly's or Mel's shoes and I decided that I wasn't willing to participate in the lies, I would pretend to be nauseated and run to the bathroom, lock myself in, and covertly call 911. At the very least, that would show the cops that I didn't want to be involved in what Cali was trying to do with a cover-up. Especially if I were Holly, the daughter of a local politician and thus more likely to receive lenient punishment.

Then again... If these girls were my lifelong friends, would I be willing to hang one or both of them out to dry like that? ... I think yes, because I know I wouldn't be able to live with the lies Cali was concocting. I'd rather lose my friends than lose my soul.

Moral of the story: Stay home and play Scrabble.

PS. Cali's psycho scream was epic! Way better than Holly's mimicked scream 5 minutes later.

PPS. The fake sexual assault aspect was completely unnecessary, especially at the end after Cali and Arthur were dead! Holly and Mel could have at least changed their story to say that they went to the house, then tried to leave when they heard someone come in, and then the guy grabbed Holly as they were trying to get away from him (scratching her and ripping her shirt in the process), and things just spiraled out of control from there. They fell on the table, he grabbed the broken table leg and (maybe accidentally?) killed Cali as she came to Holly's defense, and then he dropped the leg and Holly grabbed it and killed him. This way, it's all just an unfortunate accident and this poor guy's name and family won't get needlessly dragged through the mud.

BTW, what was the groundskeeper doing showing up at the house at that time of night in the first place? And for that matter, why does this mansion not have some kind of security system in place, especially since the family takes extended vacations? SMH.