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“The entire situation reeks of a bad 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 whose outlandish story he previously said he trusted. Yet his description of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, a pair of streaming movies about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers and then murders them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

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

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed online personality in a place with no technology to see if they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of what happened, including the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that typically attract CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore luxurious locales at little cost, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful in locating beautiful places to film, though they were likely less nefarious in their methods. Most of the film seems to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even when many scenes consist of a handful of actors of people looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, explosive action and special effects can display a big budget, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also feels deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature this much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these lush, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed against the emptiness of online fame. While it is gratifying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison felt during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids caricaturing the character. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, at least for now.