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“Everything about this stinks of a bad TV movie,” observes a cynical commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest with an bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. Yet his description of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers a degree of mystery, when returning writer-director the director resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that a person should try stranding a phone-addicted online personality somewhere without any devices to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the special treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in her role, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) While the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding beautiful places to film, though they were likely less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the movie appears to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that remains even when many scenes consist of a handful of actors of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish over the years: Indeed, big action and special effects can display large spending, however just providing a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, seem to have entry to impossibly chic modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters must believably inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is gratifying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to hope she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids caricaturing the character further. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without investigating them. This is especially true of the way he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film could offer fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, for now.