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“This whole affair reeks of a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, his tone is manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains how much better it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers a degree of ambiguity, as returning writer-director the director picks up with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to her partner that a person should try leaving a device-obsessed influencer somewhere without any devices to see whether they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded a single fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that typically attract CW’s attention.

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 eye-catching outfits.) Although the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the first film seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, with both women employ fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue or evade one another. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were likely less nefarious in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of characters looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies appear so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, explosive action and special effects can display large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; there are movies about lifeguards that don’t show off as much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of online fame. While it is satisfying to see CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt during ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true of the way he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film ultimately delivers that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself is still here, for now.