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“This whole affair stinks of a bad TV movie,” remarks an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. But his description of the events on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of films on demand about a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains how much better it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, as returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to her partner that a person ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted online personality somewhere without any devices to see whether they can survive. Is this a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt regarding her version of what happened, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, although they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the film seems to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can show off a big budget, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it can be satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to hope she evades capture, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more 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 utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, for now.