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“This whole affair stinks of a bad TV movie,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. Yet his assessment of the events on screen isn’t wrong. Superficially, two films on demand chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (for a time) by taking control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to her partner that a person should try leaving a device-obsessed influencer in a place without any devices to see whether they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces suspicion regarding her version of the events, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to juice his career as half of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that normally attract CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in her role, a role that appears particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a tale of rival investigators, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for getting to explore luxurious locales at little cost, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious about finding stunning locations to film, although they were presumably more legitimate about it. Most of the movie seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even as many scenes involve a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, but simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, appear to enjoy entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature this much aerial pool footage. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uneasy irony of how often everyone — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant against the emptiness of online fame. While it is satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without investigating them further. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title for the film could offer devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.