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“Everything about this stinks of a bad TV movie,” remarks a cynical podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he previously said he trusted. Yet his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two streaming movies chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains just how superior it proves to be compared to much of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker the director resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try stranding a device-obsessed online personality somewhere with no technology to see if they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces suspicion over her version of the events, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, although they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the movie appears to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when many scenes involve a handful of actors of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can display large spending, however simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to impossibly chic modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant against the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be satisfying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.