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“This whole affair smells like a cheap TV movie,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he once said he trusted. Yet his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, two films on demand about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains just how superior it proves to be than plenty of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker the director picks up with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed online personality in a place without any devices to see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her version of what happened, including the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating beautiful places to visit, though they were presumably more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the film seems 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 Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can display large spending, however just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. Though it is gratifying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification lets us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited of it.

The other side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The pluralized title for the film could offer fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, for now.