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“This whole affair stinks of a bad TV movie,” observes an opportunistic commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of streaming movies about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry but cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends 2025's Influencers a degree of mystery, when returning writer-director the director picks up with CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted influencer somewhere without any devices to see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding 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 part of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in her role, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a story of rival investigators, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to film, though they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the movie seems to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies appear so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can display a big budget, but just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The pluralized title for the film might give fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, at least for now.