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“The entire situation smells of a bad made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he once said he trusted. Yet his description of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, two streaming movies chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker the director picks up with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed online personality somewhere with no technology to see if they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion regarding her recounting of the events, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, which seems particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a tale of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase or evade one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the movie appears to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even when many scenes involve a handful of actors 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, explosive action and visual effects can show off a big budget, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much aerial pool video. The characters must believably occupy these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the emptiness of online fame. While 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, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The other side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, for now.