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“This whole affair stinks like a cheap made-for-TV,” observes a cynical commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose outlandish story he once said he trusted. But his description of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of streaming movies about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid but cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains how much better it is than plenty of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to Diane that someone should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place with no technology to see whether they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW's offenses, but still faces suspicion regarding her recounting of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears especially tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding beautiful places to visit, although they were likely less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the movie appears to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even as numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of people looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can display large spending, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying 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 video. The characters must believably inhabit these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. While it is satisfying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids caricaturing the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The other side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film ultimately delivers that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it resembles more a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself is still here, for now.