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“This whole affair smells like a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. But his description of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. Superficially, two streaming movies about a woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains how much better it is compared to much of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer in a place without any devices and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion over her recounting of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the first film seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase or evade one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating beautiful places to visit, although they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. The vast majority of the film seems to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even when numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, big action and special effects can show off large spending, however simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a story so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off this much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless 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 rant against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it is gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification allows 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 experienced 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 doofuses; he avoids turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what prevents it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself remains present, at least for now.