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“The entire situation smells like a cheap TV movie,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose outlandish story he once said he trusted. Yet his description of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of films on demand chronicling a woman who worms her way into the worlds of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of the competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology and see whether they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of committing CW's offenses, but still faces doubt over her recounting of the events, including the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) While the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding stunning locations to film, although they were likely less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the film seems to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even when many scenes involve a handful of actors of characters looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can show off a big budget, however simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature this much aerial pool video. These individuals must believably occupy these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the vacuousness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title for the film could offer fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself is still here, for now.