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“This whole affair stinks like a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he once said he trusted. But his description of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, two streaming movies chronicling a woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers remains how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, regardless of screen size. 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 quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that someone should try leaving a phone-addicted influencer somewhere without any devices and see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple 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 doubt regarding her recounting of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue or evade each other. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding beautiful places to visit, although they were likely more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that remains even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off a big budget, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uneasy irony of how often each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it can be gratifying to see CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is relatively sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator 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 is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, for now.