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“This whole affair reeks of a bad TV movie,” states a cynical podcaster midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he once claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of films on demand chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning writer-director the director picks up with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to her partner that a person ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed influencer somewhere with no technology and see if they can survive. Is this a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the preferential treatment given to one 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, now exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion over her recounting of what happened, including the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a conservative-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) While the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works 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 or evade each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were likely more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the film appears to be shot on location, giving it a real-world weight that remains even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish over the years: Indeed, big action and special effects can display large spending, however just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters must believably inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt during ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem as if he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, at least for now.