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“This whole affair stinks like a bad made-for-TV,” states an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose outlandish story he once claimed he believed. But his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of streaming movies about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the suspense film that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker the director picks up with the character CW contentedly residing 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 someone should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer somewhere with no technology to see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the special treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt over her version of what happened, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) Although the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a tale of rival investigators, with both women employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding stunning locations to film, although they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that lingers even when many scenes involve a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, explosive action and special effects can show off a big budget, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much aerial pool footage. The characters must believably occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced while on ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids caricaturing the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is especially true of the way he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, for now.