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“Everything about this reeks like a bad TV movie,” observes a cynical commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. But his description of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of films on demand chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid but cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning filmmaker the director picks up with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to her partner that someone ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices and see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt over her recounting of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as half of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that normally capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, which seems especially tailor-made for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) While the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue or evade one another. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a knack for gaining access to posh places without paying much, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating stunning locations to film, although they were likely more legitimate in their methods. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even when numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of characters looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can display a big budget, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much aerial pool video. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these lush, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of the influencer industry. Though it can be satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel for the film could offer devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it resembles more a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself is still here, at least for now.