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“Everything about this smells of a bad TV movie,” states an opportunistic podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. But his description of the events in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, two streaming movies about a young woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing about Influencers is just how superior it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It’s the kind of thriller that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers a degree of mystery, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try leaving a phone-addicted online personality somewhere without any devices and see whether they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of committing CW's offenses, but still faces doubt over her version of what happened, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that typically attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, which seems especially tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, with both women both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, though they were likely more legitimate about it. Most of the film appears to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, explosive action and special effects can display large spending, however just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a story so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters must believably occupy these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a rant against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt during ostensibly dream getaways. Here, 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 turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The other side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without investigating them. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, for now.