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“Everything about this stinks like a bad TV movie,” observes a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. Yet his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of films on demand chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid but network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains how much better it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, entices 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 an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning filmmaker the director resumes with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that a person ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed online personality somewhere without any devices and see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her version of the events, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically capture CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still functions as a tale of rival investigators, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating stunning locations to film, though they were presumably less nefarious about it. Most of the film seems to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even when numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of people staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, big action and special effects can display a big budget, but simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be satisfying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids caricaturing the character. He even gives 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 a victim of it.

The other side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging elements of modern online life without deeply exploring 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 for the film could offer fans of the first movie hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, for now.