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“Everything about this smells like a cheap made-for-TV,” observes a cynical podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an outlandish story he once claimed he believed. But his description of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand about a young woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains how much better it is than plenty of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW contentedly residing 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 attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try leaving a phone-addicted online personality somewhere with no technology and see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival amateur detectives, with both women employ fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape one another. Of course, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. Most of the film seems to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even when many scenes involve a relatively small cast of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, explosive action and visual effects can show off large spending, however simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to impossibly chic modern bungalows; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it is satisfying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust 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 further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem as if he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without investigating them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, for now.