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“The entire situation stinks like a bad TV movie,” remarks a cynical commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an bizarre tale he once said he trusted. Yet his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of films on demand chronicling a woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing about Influencers is how much better it is compared to much of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that a person ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed online personality somewhere with no technology to see whether they can survive. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her version of the events, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that typically attract CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, which seems particularly tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) While the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of dueling investigators, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase or evade one another. Then again, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating stunning locations to film, although they were presumably less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even as many scenes involve a relatively small cast of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can display large spending, however just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a story so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing online content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of the influencer industry. Though it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give fans of the first movie hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.