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“This whole affair smells like a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand about a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid but network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of screen size. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those murders (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning filmmaker the director resumes with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion over her recounting of what happened, including the killing of her 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), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of dueling amateur detectives, with both women both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore posh places at little cost, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating beautiful places to visit, though they were likely less nefarious in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even when many scenes consist of a handful of actors of characters staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, big action and special effects can display large spending, but 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 coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this 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 — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the vacuousness of online fame. Though it can be satisfying to see CW manipulate various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is especially true of the way he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The pluralized title for the film might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. 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 coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, for now.