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“This whole affair stinks of a bad made-for-TV,” observes a cynical podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. Yet his description of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand chronicling a woman who worms her way into the lives 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 the competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (at least temporarily) by taking control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early mystery, as returning filmmaker the director resumes with CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate the couple’s one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try stranding a phone-addicted online personality somewhere without any devices to see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt over her version of the events, including the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, 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 follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape one another. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the movie seems to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that lingers even as numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of characters looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, but simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, remote places 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.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be satisfying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear as if he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true of the way he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title for the film could offer fans of the first movie hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself remains present, at least for now.