The Crash is the No. 1 movie on Netflix today, putting the 2022 Mackenzie Shirilla crash case back in front of millions of viewers. The documentary, directed by Gareth Johnson and Angharad Scott, centers on the night Shirilla drove a Toyota Camry into the side of a building at almost 100 mph, killing her 20-year-old boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and his friend, 19-year-old Davion Flanagan.
That surge to the top of netflix top movies right now matters because the film is not just rehashing a court case — it is reopening one of the most closely watched teen-crime stories of the past few years. Shirilla, once a Strongsville, Ohio, high school student and aspiring model and influencer, was tried in 2023 and convicted of murder, felonious assault, aggravated vehicular homicide, drug possession and possession of criminal tools. She was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after 15 years.
The draw is part lurid true crime, part digital-age biography. The documentary is the first time Shirilla, her parents and her influencer friend Rosie Graham have appeared on camera to give their version of events, and Graham brings her own online reach into the story with almost a million followers on TikTok. The film also leans on Shirilla’s social media posts and videos, making the case feel less like a distant courtroom record and more like a feed that never really stopped moving.
But the documentary’s climb has also revived the same argument that has shadowed the case online for months. YouTube follow-up videos say it left out key pieces of evidence against Shirilla, a claim that has become part of the viewing experience for people who already know the outcome and are now comparing the film’s framing with what they believe was shown at trial. That split matters because the crash was already the subject of an episode of HBO’s Mean Girl Murders, and this new round of attention is arriving in a space where true-crime audiences rarely watch passively.
For now, the film’s No. 1 ranking means the Shirilla case is no longer confined to court records and old clips. It is being re-argued in living rooms, on TikTok and in YouTube comment sections, with the biggest unanswered question not what happened in 2022, but whether any documentary about it can tell the story without leaving viewers convinced something essential was missed.
