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“The entire situation stinks of a cheap made-for-TV,” observes an opportunistic commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. But his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry yet network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers is how much better it proves to be than plenty of the competition, regardless 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 quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend 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 a person ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her version of what happened, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the sequel’s focus leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, with both women employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase 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, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding beautiful places to visit, though they were likely more legitimate in their methods. Most of the movie 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 computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies appear so persistently lavish over the years: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can display a big budget, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems deeply filmic. This is especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies about lifeguards that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters must believably inhabit these lush, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is gratifying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited by it.

The other side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.