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“Everything about this reeks like a bad TV movie,” states a cynical commentator during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of streaming movies about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry but network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains how much better it is compared to much of the competition, irrespective of screen size. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, as returning filmmaker the director resumes with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try leaving a device-obsessed influencer somewhere with no technology to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion regarding her version of what happened, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally attract CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, 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 original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a tale of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape one another. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding beautiful places to film, though they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. Most of the movie seems to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as many scenes involve a handful of actors of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, explosive action and visual effects can show off a big budget, but just providing a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the vacuousness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, for now.