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“Everything about this stinks of a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he once said he trusted. But his description of the events in the movie isn’t wrong. Superficially, two films on demand about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains how much better it proves to be compared to much of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices and see whether they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt regarding her version 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 half of a conservative-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that typically attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, which seems particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape one another. Then again, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for gaining access to posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding beautiful places to film, though they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the film appears to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even when numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can display a big budget, however simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much aerial pool video. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the vacuousness of online fame. While it is gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film could offer fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, for now.