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“Everything about this smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” observes an opportunistic commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. Yet his description of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is just how superior it proves to be compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that a person should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer somewhere with no technology to see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment afforded a single fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that typically capture CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in her role, a role that appears especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even when numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of characters looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be gratifying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt during ostensibly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting 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 this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title for the film might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, for now.