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“This whole affair smells of a bad TV movie,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest with an bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. But his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides 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. On a journey marking their first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try leaving a phone-addicted influencer somewhere with no technology and see if they can make it. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt over her recounting of what happened, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that typically attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a tale of dueling investigators, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore posh places at little cost, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding 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, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even when many scenes consist of a handful of actors of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, explosive action and visual effects can display large spending, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a rant against the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging elements of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, tech-addled 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 might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.