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“The entire situation smells like a cheap TV movie,” observes an opportunistic podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains how much better it proves to be than plenty of the competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that someone should try leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place with no technology to see whether they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her version of the events, including the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to juice his career as half of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, which seems especially tailor-made for her talents. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a story of dueling investigators, with both women both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase or evade each other. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places at little cost, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, although they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the movie seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that remains even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of characters looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can display large spending, but simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also seems deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing online content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters must believably occupy these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed against the vacuousness of online fame. Though it is gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without investigating them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer devotees of the original expectations of an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a polished Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, for now.