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“Everything about this smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” observes a cynical commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he previously claimed he believed. But his assessment of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved Movie of the Week. The surprising aspect about Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It is precisely the thriller that should give 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 quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and conceals those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate their first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW comments to Diane that a person should try leaving a device-obsessed online personality somewhere with no technology and see if they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist after witnessing the special treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt regarding her version of the events, which includes the killing of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as part of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, as opposed to the curated images that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still functions as a story of dueling amateur detectives, with both women both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase or evade each other. Then again, perhaps the unlimited budget isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore posh places without paying much, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably more legitimate about it. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even when numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of characters looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise look so persistently lavish over the years: Indeed, explosive action and special effects can display large spending, but just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so rooted in the simultaneous surface-level allure and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy digital content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off as much aerial pool video. These individuals must believably inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. While it is gratifying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the major influencer characters. In the first movie, he keyed into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he avoids turning into a caricature the character further. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The flip side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging bits of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true of the way he brings AI into the plot, a fascinating turn that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style ante-upping, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a polished Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself remains present, for now.