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“Everything about this reeks of a bad TV movie,” observes a cynical podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he previously said he trusted. But his description of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers remains just how superior it proves to be than plenty of its competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try leaving a phone-addicted online personality in a place with no technology to see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for committing CW's offenses, but still faces suspicion over her recounting of what happened, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to juice his career as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears especially custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) While the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue or evade each other. Of course, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for getting to explore posh places at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even when many scenes involve a handful of actors of characters staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, big action and special effects can display large spending, but simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and desperate hustle of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to impossibly chic modern bungalows; 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 uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. Though it is satisfying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he is selling snake-oil 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 collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title for the film might give fans of the first movie hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the film does eventually provide that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, for now.