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“Everything about this smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” states an opportunistic commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is manipulatively dismissive of a guest with an bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. But his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, a pair of films on demand chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It is precisely the thriller that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 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, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted online personality somewhere with no technology and see if they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the preferential treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of the events, including the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that normally attract CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to film, though they were likely more legitimate about it. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even as numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of people looking at digital devices.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can display a big budget, however just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters in Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much overhead swimming-pool footage. The characters have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a screed against the vacuousness of online fame. While it is gratifying to see CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt during ostensibly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob at work will reveal that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title for the film could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, 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 the world itself remains present, at least for now.