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“The entire situation stinks of a bad TV movie,” states an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies about a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid but cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses 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 marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try leaving a phone-addicted online personality in a place with no technology and see whether they can make it. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the special treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally attract CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, which seems especially custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase or evade each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding stunning locations to visit, although they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority 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 people staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can display large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much aerial pool video. The characters must believably inhabit these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless 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 satisfying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The other side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, for now.