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“The entire situation reeks like a bad made-for-TV,” observes an opportunistic podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. But his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two streaming movies chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning writer-director the director resumes with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to her partner that someone should try leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place with no technology to see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion over her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally attract CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a story of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding beautiful places to film, though they were presumably less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of characters staring at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, big action and special effects can display a big budget, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also seems deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a story so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the emptiness of online fame. While it is satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.