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“Everything about this smells of a bad made-for-TV,” states a cynical commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. But his description of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, two streaming movies about a young woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to her partner that a person should try leaving a device-obsessed influencer somewhere without any devices and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of committing CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion over her version of the events, including the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears especially tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) Although the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works as a story of dueling investigators, with both women employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding beautiful places to film, though they were presumably more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even as many scenes involve a handful of actors of characters staring at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, big action and special effects can show off a big budget, but simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much aerial pool video. These individuals must believably occupy these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uneasy irony of how often everyone — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it can be gratifying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification lets us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without investigating them. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.