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“This whole affair smells of a bad TV movie,” observes an opportunistic commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he once claimed he believed. But his assessment of what’s happening on screen isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand about a young woman who worms her way into the lives of online influencers before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry but network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers is how much better it is compared to much of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, as returning writer-director the director resumes with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey to celebrate their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to Diane that a person ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted influencer in a place without any devices and see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion over her recounting of the events, including the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in her role, which seems particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue and/or escape one another. Then again, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating beautiful places to visit, although they were presumably more legitimate about it. Most of the film appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even when many scenes involve a relatively small cast of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies appear so persistently lavish over the years: Indeed, big action and special effects can display large spending, however just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing digital content.

Every character in Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to impossibly chic modern bungalows; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much aerial pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be satisfying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification allows us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt during ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not someone exploited by 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 further. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the film does eventually provide that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places might also be what prevents it from seeming like utter horror. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself remains present, for now.