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“The entire situation stinks of a bad made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose outlandish story he previously said he trusted. Yet his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of films on demand about a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing about Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed online personality somewhere without any devices to see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion over her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears especially custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) 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 employ fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating stunning locations to visit, though 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 lingers even as numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of people looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, explosive action and special effects can display a big budget, however just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing online content.

Every character in Bali, similar to 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 this much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The other side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the film ultimately delivers that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.