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“This whole affair stinks of a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he previously said he trusted. But his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of the competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning filmmaker the director picks up with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to her partner that someone should try stranding a phone-addicted online personality in a place without any devices and see if they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion over her recounting of what happened, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that normally capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding stunning locations to film, though they were presumably more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the movie seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that remains even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of characters staring at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and special effects can display a big budget, however just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. The characters must believably occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. While it is gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, for now.