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“The entire situation reeks of a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks a cynical podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. Superficially, two streaming movies about a young woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character 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 eye and ire.

CW comments to her partner that a person should try leaving a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology and see if they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion regarding her recounting of what happened, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears especially tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) While the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue or evade one another. Then again, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places at little cost, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding beautiful places to film, although they were likely less nefarious in their methods. Most of the film appears to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that remains even when numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of characters looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can show off large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the first film, seem to have entry to impossibly chic 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 frequently each person — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling false 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 girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging elements of modern online life without investigating them further. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title for the film might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.