It isn’t usually that movies flip into a type of shorthand. So credit score is because of 2012’s Venture X for its endurance as a time period for events descending into utter chaos.

Nowhere is that this extra obvious than in Netflix’s new documentary, Trainwreck: The Actual Venture X, which chronicles a 2012 incident wherein a 16-year-old’s humble birthday celebration spiraled into a booze-fueled riot that resulted in a mayor’s resignation.

However, regardless of what its title implies, The Actual Venture X shouldn’t be an origin story for Nima Nourizadeh’s found-footage occasion flick. Quite, it’s about a occasion that attracted partygoers who tried to copy Venture X‘s rager, leaving the residents of a small Netherlands city with a painful (and pricey) hangover.

The query stays: Is Venture X based on a true story? Learn on for the reply.

What’s Venture X about?

Produced by Todd Phillips, who minimize his enamel on rowdy movies like Outdated College and The Hangover trilogy, Venture X adopts a found-footage filming type just like low-budget horror hits like The Blair Witch Venture and Paranormal Exercise. However in contrast to these style staples, that is a lewd, crude comedy about dorky teenagers who throw a seventeenth birthday celebration for a pal. The occasion quickly turns into a booze-fueled, property-destroying, flame-spouting legend.

Leisure Weekly‘s critic at the time known as it a “mangy teenage house-party bacchanal” impressively designed to “appear like one steady, surging spurt of youthful hormonal alcoholic madness.” One other EW critic famous, “It’s each guardian’s worst nightmare performed out over 88 minutes.”

Is Venture X based on a true story?

Although the creators of Venture X have by no means confirmed this, many retailers, together with the Sydney Morning Herald, have famous the similarities between the film’s occasion and a real-life rager in 2008 that ravaged a group in Melbourne, Australia.

The Melbourne occasion was thrown by Corey Worthington, a 16-year-old whose mother and father had been out of city. The occasion ended up spilling into the streets when roughly 500 individuals confirmed up, in response to the New York Times. Per the Instances, “some minor harm was finished to a neighbor’s property,” however the state of affairs escalated when cops, aided by canines and a helicopter, stormed the occasion, leading to a skirmish that concerned rock-throwing and a broken police automobile.

What made the state of affairs nationwide information, although, was a hilarious interview Worthington gave to A Present Affair after the occasion. The teenager, bare-chested with unkempt hair beneath an askew cap, mumbles via a half-hearted apology and refuses to take away his ostentatious sun shades when requested by the interviewer.

Many clutched their pearls at the teen’s indifference, however the clip went viral as youthful audiences embraced his indifferent demeanor. Worthington scored an agent in the aftermath and has since appeared on Massive Brother Australia 8 and Australian Ninja Warrior.

Venture X ends with a comparable interview, as party-thrower Costa (Oliver Cooper) adopts a comparable demeanor (and a comparable pair of shades) whereas talking with TV character Jillian Barberie.

The place is Corey Worthington now?

Based on his Instagram, Worthington is at present married with a daughter. He additionally works with the Leg Up Project, which goals to assist unhoused of us in Melbourne.

He addressed his notoriety in a November 2024 video on Instagram. When requested if he peaked when he was 16, he dismissed the query. “Mate, the peak of my life was having my toddler. She’s f—in’ every little thing to me.”

Chatting with the occasion that made him notorious, he shrugged it off. “It was simply a occasion… I did not count on it to be one thing 16 years on. I did not count on it to get made into a film.”

What occurred at the 2012 “Venture X occasion” in Haren?

The gathering depicted in Netflix’s Trainwreck: The Actual Venture X would not look almost as pleasant as Worthington’s real-life bash or the occasion depicted in Venture X.

It started with Merthe Weusthuis, a 16-year-old residing in the small city of Haren in the Netherlands. Weusthuis posted an innocuous (and inadvertently public) Fb occasion for her birthday celebration in 2012, inviting 78 individuals, per TIME. An acquaintance thought it can be humorous to ask a number of of his personal buddies. From there, the occasion snowballed, with strangers getting in on the enjoyable and duplicate pages being made after the authentic was deleted.

Since this all occurred in the wake of Venture X‘s launch, potential partygoers had been decided to make it, in the phrases of a number of interview topics, a “Venture X occasion.”

Per the documentary, greater than 30,000 individuals had been invited to the Sept. 21 bash. Based on CNN, roughly 3,000 individuals confirmed up exterior Weusthuis’ home, the place they had been met by authorities. Tensions shortly escalated between riot police and partygoers, leading to property destruction, looting, fires, and violence.

Based on the documentary, greater than 100 individuals had been arrested after police combed via hours of video proof. Seventeen had been charged with crimes associated to the riot.

“Final evening, scum wreaked havoc in our group,” mentioned Haren Mayor Rob Bats in the aftermath. The next 12 months, nevertheless, an official inquiry into the incident discovered that Bats and the native police drive “failed” of their administration of the incident.

“Proper from the begin authorities had no grip on the downside, there was no clear technique to cope with it and what they did was inadequate,” mentioned the investigating fee’s chair, Job Cohen, per the Journal.

As proven in the documentary, Bats apologized throughout a press convention and resigned in March 2013 amid “public strain” following the inquiry. He declined to take part in the film.

The place can I watch Venture X?

Venture X is obtainable to hire or purchase by way of Amazon Prime Video or Apple.

Trainwreck: The Actual Venture X is available to stream on Netflix.

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