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“The entire situation stinks like a bad made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing about Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of the competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the suspense film that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers a degree of mystery, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to her partner that someone should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology and see whether they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of what happened, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) While the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of dueling investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating stunning locations to visit, though they were presumably more legitimate about it. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even as numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of people looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can display a big budget, but simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed against the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is gratifying to see CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging elements of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel for the film could offer devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the movie does eventually provide that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.