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“The entire situation smells like a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks a cynical commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an bizarre tale he once said he trusted. But his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, two streaming movies chronicling a 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 Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains how much better it is compared to much of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, as returning writer-director the director resumes with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer somewhere with no technology to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt over her recounting of the events, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as part of a conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, which seems especially tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Then again, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, though they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. Most of the film appears to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that lingers even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies appear so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, explosive action and special effects can show off a big budget, however simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner 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 is acknowledging bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel for the film could offer fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places might also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.