🔗 Share this article

“Everything about this reeks of a cheap made-for-TV,” observes a cynical podcaster during the chilling follow-up Influencers. In the moment, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee with an bizarre tale he previously said he trusted. But his description of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but cable-ready Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers remains how much better it is compared to much of its competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their doom, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island near the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of ambiguity, when returning filmmaker the director 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) catches CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted influencer somewhere without any devices and see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment given to one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW's offenses, yet still encounters doubt over her recounting of the events, including the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that normally capture CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears especially custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching outfits.) Although the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to chase and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding stunning locations to film, though they were likely less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the film seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even as numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent over the years: Indeed, explosive action and visual effects can display a big budget, however just providing a kind of visual tour to viewers also feels deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; films exist concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off this much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these lush, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of identification lets us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison experienced during supposedly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The other side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem as if he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel for the film could offer devotees of the original hope for a larger-scale escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an frenzied, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what prevents it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, for now.