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“Everything about this stinks of a bad TV movie,” remarks a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, two streaming movies chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder 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 Diane that someone should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer somewhere without any devices and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion over her recounting of the events, including the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that normally capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales at little cost, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, though they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, giving it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can show off a big budget, but simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to impossibly chic modern bungalows; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how often everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it is satisfying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the film does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. 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 real-world locations might also be what prevents it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, for now.