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“Everything about this smells of a cheap TV movie,” remarks a cynical podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he once claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, two streaming movies about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers is how much better it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving its peers a serious bout 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, lures them to their doom, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner 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 comments to her partner that a person should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology to see if they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion regarding her version of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that typically capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still functions as a tale of dueling investigators, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were likely less nefarious in their methods. Most of the film appears to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even as many scenes involve a handful of actors of people looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much 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. While it can be gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, for now.