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“Everything about this stinks of a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an outlandish story he once said he trusted. Yet his assessment of the events on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of films on demand chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing about Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of the competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the suspense film that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, as returning filmmaker the director picks up 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) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that a person ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces suspicion over her version of what happened, including the killing of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that typically attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in her role, which seems particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a story of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for getting to explore posh places at little cost, an ability that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding beautiful places to film, though they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the film seems to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can display a big budget, however simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title for the film could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.