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“This whole affair reeks like a bad TV movie,” states a cynical podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his description of the events on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, two films on demand chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry but network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker the director resumes with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to her partner that someone should try leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place with no technology and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt over her version of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding beautiful places to visit, though they were presumably more legitimate about it. Most of the film appears to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when many scenes involve a relatively small cast of characters staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish over the years: Indeed, big action and visual effects can show off a big budget, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing online content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much aerial pool video. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the emptiness of the influencer industry. Though it can be satisfying to see CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is relatively understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging elements of modern online life without investigating them further. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, at least for now.