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“The entire situation reeks like a cheap TV movie,” states an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he once said he trusted. But his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of films on demand chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling social media targets, lures them to their doom, and conceals those murders (for a time) by taking control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, as returning writer-director the director resumes with the character CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that someone should try stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices to see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that typically capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly tailor-made for her talents. (She even created CW's striking outfits.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a story of rival investigators, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape one another. Then again, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, an ability that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding stunning locations to film, though they were likely more legitimate about it. The vast majority of the film appears to be filmed in real places, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of characters looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish for decades: Indeed, big action and special effects can show off large spending, but just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle of creating envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature this much aerial pool video. These individuals have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it can be satisfying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem as if he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without investigating 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 might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, for now.