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“This whole affair reeks like a bad TV movie,” remarks an opportunistic podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee with an outlandish story he previously said he trusted. But his description of the events on screen isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies about a woman who insinuates herself into the lives of online influencers before killing them feels like a modern-day version of a lurid but network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers is just how superior it is compared to much of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects traveling alone social media targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, 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 one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that someone should try stranding a device-obsessed influencer somewhere with no technology to see whether they can survive. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now cleared of committing CW's offenses, but still faces suspicion over her recounting of the events, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally attract CW’s attention.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still works as a tale of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase or evade each other. Of course, maybe the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding beautiful places to visit, although they were likely less nefarious in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, but simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

Every character in Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. These individuals must believably occupy these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed targeting the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to wish she doesn’t get caught, Harder is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison felt while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids caricaturing the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not someone exploited by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychological edge it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what prevents it from coming across like utter horror. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, at least for now.