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“Everything about this stinks like a bad made-for-TV,” observes a cynical commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he once claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two streaming movies about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of the competition, irrespective of screen size. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses 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 film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends 2025's Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed online personality in a place with no technology to see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint 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 over her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that typically capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in her role, which seems especially custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a story of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding stunning locations to film, although they were presumably less nefarious about it. Most of the movie seems to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even when numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies appear so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can display a big budget, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character in Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature this much aerial pool video. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it can be satisfying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true of the way he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, 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 reality itself remains present, for now.