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“Everything about this reeks of a cheap made-for-TV,” states a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he once claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand about a woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning filmmaker the director picks up with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and anger.

CW remarks to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted online personality somewhere with no technology and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt over her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of her 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), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically capture CW’s attention.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although 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 rival investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape each other. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, though they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be shot on location, giving it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can show off large spending, but just providing a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much aerial pool video. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it can be gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced during supposedly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film could offer devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the film ultimately delivers that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, for now.