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“This whole affair stinks of a bad made-for-TV,” observes a cynical commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. But his description of the events in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies about a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains how much better it proves to be compared to much of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The movie leaves off (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 lends 2025's Influencers a degree of ambiguity, as returning filmmaker the director resumes with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to her partner that a person should try stranding a phone-addicted online personality somewhere with no technology and see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of dueling investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue or evade each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore posh places at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, though they were presumably less nefarious about it. Most of the film appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even as many scenes involve a relatively small cast of people looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can display a big budget, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing online content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it is gratifying 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 sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced during ostensibly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title for the film could offer fans of the first movie hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, for now.