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“This whole affair smells like a cheap made-for-TV,” observes an opportunistic podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker the director resumes with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to Diane that someone should try leaving a device-obsessed influencer in a place without any devices and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of the events, which includes 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 is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that normally capture CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival investigators, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off a big budget, however just providing a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — 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

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the emptiness of online fame. While it is satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The other side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem as if he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. 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 might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself remains present, at least for now.