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“Everything about this reeks like a bad TV movie,” remarks a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of films on demand chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker the director resumes with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed influencer somewhere without any devices to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion over her version of what happened, including the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically capture CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the sequel’s screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a story of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape each other. Then again, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding beautiful places to film, although they were likely more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the film appears to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can show off large spending, however just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters must believably inhabit these lush, remote places to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. While it can be gratifying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to hope she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, for now.