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“This whole affair reeks of a bad TV movie,” states a cynical commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he previously said he trusted. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of films on demand chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, as returning writer-director the director resumes with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that a person ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices to see if they can make it. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion over her recounting of what happened, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that typically attract CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears especially custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) Although the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue or evade one another. Then again, maybe 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 scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the film appears to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that remains even when many scenes consist of a handful of actors of people looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies appear so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, explosive action and visual effects can display large spending, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a story so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing online content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters must believably inhabit these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it can be gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to hope she evades capture, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced while on supposedly dream getaways. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear as if he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title for the film could offer fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.