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“Everything about this smells of a bad made-for-TV,” states a cynical commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of streaming movies about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry but network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker the director picks up with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that a person should try leaving a phone-addicted influencer somewhere without any devices to see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that typically attract CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the first film seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape one another. Then again, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for gaining access to luxurious locales without paying much, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the film appears to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that remains even when numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, but just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much aerial pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' 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 screed against the vacuousness of online fame. While it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison felt during ostensibly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The other side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging elements 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 retitled sequel of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, technology-obsessed 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 content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, at least for now.