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“Everything about this stinks like a cheap TV movie,” states a cynical podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he previously said he trusted. Yet his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, two streaming movies chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers and then murders them feels like a modern-day version of a tawdry but cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains just how superior it proves to be than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, entices 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 an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that someone should try leaving a phone-addicted online personality in a place without any devices to see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears especially custom-fit for her talents. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a story of rival investigators, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase or evade each other. Then again, perhaps the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places at little cost, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding stunning locations to film, though they were likely more legitimate in their methods. The vast majority of the film seems to be filmed in real places, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even as many scenes involve a relatively small cast of characters staring at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, but just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much aerial pool footage. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often everyone — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced while on ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. But before that, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, for now.