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“The entire situation stinks of a bad TV movie,” remarks a cynical podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. But his assessment 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 lives of social media stars before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid but network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is how much better it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, as returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer somewhere without any devices and see whether they can survive. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW's offenses, but still faces doubt over her version of the events, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that typically capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, which seems particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue or evade each other. Of course, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding beautiful places to film, though they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the movie seems to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even as many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, big action and special effects can show off large spending, but just providing a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals must believably inhabit these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed against the emptiness of online fame. While it can be satisfying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt during supposedly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear as if he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film does eventually provide that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, it resembles more a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself remains present, at least for now.