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“Everything about this stinks like a cheap made-for-TV,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning filmmaker the director resumes with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that someone ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted influencer somewhere without any devices and see if they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of what happened, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows 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 curated images that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, which seems especially tailor-made for her talents. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival investigators, with both women both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore posh places at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, although they were likely more legitimate in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even as many scenes involve a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can show off large spending, but simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals must believably inhabit these lush, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed against the emptiness of online fame. Though it is gratifying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification lets us to hope she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling 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 genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging elements of modern online life without investigating them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film ultimately delivers that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.