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“This whole affair smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” observes a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he once said he trusted. Yet his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, two streaming movies about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of 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 methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near 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 filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place with no technology to see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces suspicion over her version of the events, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium 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 especially tailor-made for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore posh places at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding stunning locations to film, although they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, giving it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off a big budget, but simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much aerial pool video. These individuals must believably occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the vacuousness of online fame. Though it can be satisfying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear 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 true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.