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“This whole affair smells of a cheap TV movie,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. But his description of the events on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of streaming movies about a woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning writer-director the director resumes with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that a person ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place with no technology to see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the preferential treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made for her talents. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a story of dueling investigators, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, 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 gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, an ability that CW echoes through her more blatant scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, though they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the movie appears to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even when many scenes involve a handful of actors of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off a big budget, but simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox 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.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. While it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is relatively understanding of the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the isolation Madison felt while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. 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 prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.