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“Everything about this smells like a bad made-for-TV,” observes an opportunistic podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, two films on demand chronicling a woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers is just how superior it proves to be compared to much of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate the couple’s one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW remarks to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place with no technology to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion over her version of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically capture CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the sequel’s focus leans heavily into 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 fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape one another. Then again, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to visit, although they were likely more legitimate about it. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even when many scenes involve a relatively small cast of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, big action and visual effects can display large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. Though it is gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The pluralized title for the film might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places might also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, for now.