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“This whole affair reeks like a cheap TV movie,” states a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. But his description of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, two streaming movies about a woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, as returning writer-director the director picks up with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices to see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints 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 over her version of what happened, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that typically capture CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival investigators, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape one another. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating beautiful places to visit, though they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can display large spending, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much aerial pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it can be gratifying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.