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“This whole affair stinks like a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an outlandish story he once said he trusted. But his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand chronicling a woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains just how superior it is than plenty of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted online personality in a place without any devices and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, 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 half of a right-wing-influencer duo 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 immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue or evade each other. Then again, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding stunning locations to visit, though they were likely more legitimate in their methods. Most of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as many scenes consist of a handful of actors of characters looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can show off large spending, but simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing online content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. The characters must believably inhabit these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced while on supposedly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer devotees of the original expectations of an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, for now.