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“The entire situation reeks of a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. But his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains just how superior it is than plenty of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate the couple’s one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted online personality somewhere with no technology to see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion regarding her version of the events, including the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically capture CW’s attention.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in her role, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a story of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape each other. Of course, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore posh places without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably less nefarious about it. Most of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when many scenes involve a relatively small cast of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and special effects can display large spending, but simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a story so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the first film, seem to have entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion 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 is acknowledging bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, for now.