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“This whole affair smells like a bad TV movie,” states a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. But his description of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, two streaming movies chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that a person should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology to see if they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion over her version of what happened, including the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that normally capture CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, which seems particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue or evade one another. Of course, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for getting to explore luxurious locales at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding beautiful places to visit, although they were likely more legitimate in their methods. Most of the film seems to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish over the years: Indeed, big action and visual effects can display large spending, but just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature this much aerial pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. While it can be gratifying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to hope she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced while on 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 avoids caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel for the film could offer fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, for now.