🔗 Share this article

“This whole affair stinks like a bad made-for-TV,” observes a cynical commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose outlandish story he previously said he trusted. But his assessment of the events on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, two films on demand about a young woman who insinuates herself into the lives of social media stars and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a tawdry but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of screen size. It’s the kind of thriller 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 methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (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, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that a person should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer somewhere with no technology to see whether they can make it. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the special treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters doubt regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still functions as a tale of dueling investigators, with both women both use fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue or evade one another. Of course, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for gaining access to posh places at little cost, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating beautiful places to film, although they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. The vast majority of the movie seems to be shot on location, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even as many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, big action and special effects can show off large spending, but simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels deeply filmic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, appear to enjoy access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off this much aerial pool video. These individuals must believably inhabit these lush, far-flung locations to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the vacuousness 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, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he is selling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his girlfriend; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not someone exploited of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem as if he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without investigating them further. This is particularly evident of the way he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it should have. The pluralized title for the film could offer fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with content-churning influencers, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.