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“The entire situation reeks of a bad made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster during 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. Yet his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of films on demand chronicling a woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning filmmaker the director resumes with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW remarks to her partner that someone should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer somewhere with no technology and see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion over her recounting of the events, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in her role, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a story of rival investigators, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase or evade each other. Of course, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding beautiful places to film, although they were presumably less nefarious about it. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters staring at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display large spending, however simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. Though it is satisfying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature 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 someone exploited by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without investigating them. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself is still here, at least for now.