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“This whole affair smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” observes a cynical commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of films on demand about a woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains how much better it is compared to much of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers a degree of mystery, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that a person ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed online personality in a place with no technology to see if they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt regarding her recounting of the events, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) 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 amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue or evade each other. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability that CW echoes through her more blatant scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, though they were likely less nefarious about it. Most of the film seems to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even when many scenes consist of a handful of actors of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and special effects can show off large spending, but just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy 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; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much aerial pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how often everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed against the vacuousness of online fame. While it can be satisfying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she evades capture, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids caricaturing the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The other side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.