🔗 Share this article

“Everything about this smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an outlandish story he once claimed he believed. But his description of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand about a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing about Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed online personality in a place with no technology and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt over her recounting of what happened, including the killing of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a story of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Then again, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Online personalities possess a talent for getting to explore luxurious locales at little cost, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating stunning locations to visit, though they were likely more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the movie appears to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that remains even when numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, explosive action and visual effects can display large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off this much aerial pool footage. The characters must believably occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal 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 by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging elements of modern online life without investigating them further. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film ultimately delivers that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.