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“The entire situation stinks of a bad TV movie,” remarks a cynical podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he once said he trusted. Yet his description of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, two streaming movies about a woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers is just how superior it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning writer-director the director picks up with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW remarks to her partner that a person ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted online personality somewhere without any devices to see if they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion regarding her version of the events, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the first film seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places at little cost, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding stunning locations to film, although they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the film seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that remains even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of characters looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display a big budget, however simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature this much aerial pool video. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the emptiness of online fame. While it is gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly dream getaways. 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 gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without investigating them. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.