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“This whole affair reeks of a cheap TV movie,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. But his description of the events in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, two streaming movies about a woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends 2025's Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try leaving a phone-addicted influencer somewhere without any devices and see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her version of what happened, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as part of a conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in her role, a role that appears particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a tale of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase or evade each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, though they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the film seems to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of characters staring at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, explosive action and visual effects can display large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it is satisfying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt during ostensibly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.