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“This whole affair stinks like a bad TV movie,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest with an outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, two films on demand about a woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is how much better it is compared to much of its competition, regardless of screen size. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (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 lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices and see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion regarding her version of the events, including 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 conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that normally capture CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Then again, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding beautiful places to visit, though they were likely more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the film seems to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even as numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can show off large spending, but simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be satisfying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that just observing 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 gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title for the film might give devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the film does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself remains present, at least for now.