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“The entire situation reeks of a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. But his description of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand chronicling a woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It’s the kind of thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, as returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW contentedly residing 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 comments to Diane that a person should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices to see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt over her recounting of what happened, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally attract CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in her role, a role that appears particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a tale of dueling amateur detectives, with both women both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Then again, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, though they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these lush, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to hope she evades capture, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison felt during ostensibly 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 resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself is still here, for now.