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“This whole affair smells of a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he once claimed he believed. But his description of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two streaming movies about a young woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains how much better it is compared to much of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to her partner that a person should try leaving a device-obsessed online personality somewhere with no technology and see whether they can make it. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her version of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that typically capture CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) While the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works 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 each other. Then again, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales at little cost, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding beautiful places to visit, though they were likely more legitimate in their methods. The vast majority of the film seems to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, however just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to see CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced while on ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without investigating them further. This is especially true of the way he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel for the film could offer fans of the first movie hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places might also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself remains present, at least for now.