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“This whole affair reeks like a bad TV movie,” states an opportunistic commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he once claimed he believed. But his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of films on demand chronicling 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 but cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers remains just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers a degree of ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed online personality somewhere without any devices to see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the preferential treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the sequel’s screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding stunning locations to film, although they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. The vast majority of the film appears to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even when many scenes involve a handful of actors of people staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, explosive action and special effects can show off large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the vacuousness of online fame. While it can be satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification lets us to hope she evades capture, Harder is relatively understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids turning into a caricature 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 double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.