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“This whole affair smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he previously said he trusted. But his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of films on demand about a woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains just how superior it proves to be compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning filmmaker the director picks up with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that someone should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer somewhere without any devices and see if they can survive. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion over her version of what happened, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a tale of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase or evade one another. Of course, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore luxurious locales at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding stunning locations to visit, though they were likely more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the movie appears to be shot on location, giving it a real-world weight that remains even when numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of people looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to see CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might 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, for now.