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“This whole affair stinks like a cheap TV movie,” remarks a cynical podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an bizarre tale he once said he trusted. But his description of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand chronicling 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 cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up 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 attention and anger.

CW remarks to her partner that a person should try leaving a phone-addicted online personality somewhere without any devices and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that typically capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, which seems especially custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape one another. Then again, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating beautiful places to visit, although they were likely less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the film appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even as numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can show off large spending, however simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards that don’t show off this much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a rant against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to hope she evades capture, the filmmaker is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without investigating them further. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what prevents 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, at least for now.