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“The entire situation stinks of a bad TV movie,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he once said he trusted. But his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand about a woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of the competition, irrespective of screen size. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology and see if they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion over her version of the events, including the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears especially tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) While the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a tale of dueling investigators, with both women both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, though they were presumably more legitimate about it. Most of the movie seems to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even as many scenes involve a relatively small cast of characters looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can show off a big budget, but simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nonetheless 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 against the emptiness of online fame. While it is gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem as if he is acknowledging elements of modern online life without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.