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“This whole affair stinks of a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, two films on demand about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of its competition, regardless of screen size. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, as returning filmmaker the director picks up with CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that someone should try stranding a phone-addicted online personality somewhere without any devices and see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of dueling investigators, with both women employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, though they were likely more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the film seems to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even as many scenes 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 look so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can show off a big budget, but simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably occupy these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed against the vacuousness of online fame. While it is satisfying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification 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 isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title for the film might give fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.