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“This whole affair smells like a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an outlandish story he once claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, two streaming movies chronicling a woman who worms her way into the worlds of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains just how superior it proves to be than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning writer-director the director resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner 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 anger.

CW remarks to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted online personality in a place without any devices and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that typically attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a tale of dueling investigators, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase or evade one another. Then again, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding stunning locations to film, although they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the movie appears to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even when many scenes involve a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display a big budget, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a story so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool video. These individuals must believably occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how often everyone — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be satisfying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title for the film could offer fans of the first movie hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, at least for now.