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“Everything about this smells like a cheap made-for-TV,” states an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest with an bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand chronicling a woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer somewhere without any devices to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt regarding her version of the events, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that normally capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, which seems particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a tale of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding beautiful places to film, although they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even as many scenes involve a relatively small cast of characters looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can display large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing online content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much aerial pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it is gratifying to see CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to hope she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt during supposedly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing 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 gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.