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“Everything about this smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks a cynical podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest with an bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. But his description of the events on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains how much better it is than plenty of the competition, regardless of screen size. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those murders (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, when returning writer-director the director resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that a person ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted online personality somewhere with no technology and see if they can make it. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment given to a single fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of committing CW's offenses, but still faces suspicion regarding her version of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as part of a conservative-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the curated images that normally attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, with both women employ fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue or evade one another. Then again, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors through her more blatant scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, though they were likely less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the movie seems to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even when numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of people staring at digital devices.

It follows the same logic which allowed the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can show off large spending, however simply offering a travelogue of sorts for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a story so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off this much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a rant against the vacuousness of online fame. Though it is gratifying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original expectations of an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.