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“The entire situation smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” states an opportunistic podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he once said he trusted. Yet his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of films on demand about a woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

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

CW remarks to Diane that someone ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted online personality somewhere without any devices to see whether they can survive. Is this a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt over her recounting of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems especially custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue or evade one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, though they were presumably more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can show off large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much aerial pool video. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant against the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is satisfying to see CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment 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 felt during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without investigating them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places might also be what prevents it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself is still here, for now.