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“Everything about this smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an outlandish story he once 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 about a woman who worms her way into the worlds of online influencers before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid but network-approved Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Setting the Stage

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning writer-director the director picks up with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that a person ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices to see whether they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the preferential treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt over her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, which seems particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the first film seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a story of dueling amateur detectives, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for gaining access to luxurious locales at little cost, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding stunning locations to film, although they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the film appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even when numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise appear so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much aerial pool video. The characters must believably occupy these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced during supposedly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids caricaturing the character. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without investigating them further. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film could offer devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, at least for now.