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“The entire situation stinks of a bad TV movie,” observes an opportunistic podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he once claimed he believed. But his assessment of the events on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, two films on demand about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, entices 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 marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning writer-director the director resumes with CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed online personality somewhere without any devices to see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment afforded a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt over her version of the events, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-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 her role, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a story of dueling investigators, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating beautiful places to film, though they were likely more legitimate about it. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even as many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of characters looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing online content.

Every character visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much aerial pool video. The characters must believably inhabit these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. While it can be satisfying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at elements of modern online life 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 pluralized title for the film might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.