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“The entire situation smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. But his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two streaming movies about a woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

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

CW comments to Diane that someone ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology and see whether they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that typically attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) While the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue or evade one another. Of course, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating stunning locations to film, though they were presumably less nefarious about it. Most of the film appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even as numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display a big budget, but simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much aerial pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be satisfying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to hope she evades capture, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly dream getaways. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling false 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 girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, at least for now.