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“This whole affair smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” observes a cynical commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to Diane that someone should try leaving a phone-addicted online personality in a place without any devices and see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that normally capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems especially custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) While the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding stunning locations to visit, though they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even as numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of characters staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and special effects can display a big budget, but simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the vacuousness of online fame. While it is gratifying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to hope she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what prevents it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.