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“The entire situation stinks of a bad made-for-TV,” remarks a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his description of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of films on demand chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is just how superior it proves to be than plenty of its competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning writer-director the director resumes with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend 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 comments to Diane that someone ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed influencer in a place without any devices to see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt regarding her version of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that normally capture CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of dueling investigators, with both women both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding stunning locations to visit, though they were likely more legitimate in their methods. Most of the film appears to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even as many scenes consist of a handful of actors of people staring at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display a big budget, however just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a story so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed against the vacuousness of online fame. Though it is satisfying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she evades capture, Harder is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced during ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect 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 other side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem as if he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself remains present, for now.