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“The entire situation stinks like a bad TV movie,” remarks a cynical commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest 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 about a woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing about Influencers remains just how superior it proves to be compared to much of the competition, regardless of screen size. It’s the kind of thriller that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film concludes (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 some early mystery, as returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that a person should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices to see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her version of the events, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, with both women both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding stunning locations to film, though they were presumably less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the film seems to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of people looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies appear so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can show off large spending, but simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed against the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be satisfying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, for now.