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“The entire situation reeks of a bad TV movie,” observes a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. But his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of streaming movies about a woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning filmmaker the director picks up with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed influencer somewhere with no technology to see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt regarding her version of what happened, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally capture CW’s attention.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in her role, a role that appears particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase or evade one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding beautiful places to visit, although they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the film appears to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, but just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much aerial pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. While it is satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, 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 pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, for now.