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“This whole affair stinks like a cheap made-for-TV,” states an opportunistic podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his description of the events in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of films on demand about a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing about Influencers is just how superior it proves to be than plenty of the competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, as returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer somewhere with no technology to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for committing CW's offenses, but still faces doubt over her version of the events, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears especially custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape one another. Then again, perhaps the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating stunning locations to film, although they were presumably more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the film appears to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of people looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish 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 narrative so dependent on the coexisting 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 unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much aerial pool video. These individuals must believably occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. While it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification lets us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film ultimately delivers that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a polished Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.