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“Everything about this reeks of a cheap TV movie,” observes an opportunistic podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is manipulatively dismissive of a guest with an bizarre tale he once said he trusted. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of films on demand chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. 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), turns the tables on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted online personality somewhere without any devices to see whether they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that normally attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a story of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase or evade one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding beautiful places to film, although they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even as numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish over the years: Indeed, big action and visual effects can display large spending, however just providing a travelogue of sorts for the audience also seems deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a story so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature this much aerial pool video. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often everyone — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she evades capture, Harder is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner 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’s nodding at bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, for now.