Overview

• Trainwreck: The Real Project X premiered July 8 on Netflix as the sixth entry in the streamer’s Trainwreck series on real-life disasters.
• The documentary features exclusive interviews and archival footage, including Merthe Weusthuis’s first on-camera comments about the viral birthday invite.
• Weusthuis spoke on Instagram for the first time in 12 years to describe how over 30,000 RSVPs drew around 3,000 people, resulting in looting, arson and 36 injuries in Haren.
• The film examines local authorities’ crisis response failures that led to Mayor Rob Bats’s resignation in March 2013.
• Viewers and critics are revisiting the incident as a cautionary tale of how social media amplification can overwhelm unprepared communities.