🔗 Share this article

“The entire situation smells of a cheap made-for-TV,” 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 bizarre tale he once said he trusted. But his assessment of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two films on demand about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers before killing them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet cable-ready weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of its competition, irrespective of screen size. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning writer-director Kurtis David Harder picks up with the character CW happily living with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that someone should try leaving a device-obsessed influencer somewhere without any devices to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment afforded a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of what happened, which includes the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the curated images that normally capture CW's interest.

Naud remains terrifically magnetic in her role, which seems particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) While the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original felt more equally divided between the two women — it still works as a tale of rival investigators, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase or evade one another. Then again, perhaps the vast resources aren't needed. Influencers have a talent for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, a skill that CW echoes with her more overt scamming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, though they were likely more legitimate in their methods. Most of the movie seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that remains even as many scenes consist of a handful of actors of people staring at digital devices.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, explosive action and visual effects can display a big budget, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing online content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those staying in Thailand in the original, seem to have entry to impossibly chic contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards that don’t show off as much aerial pool video. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — including the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' narcissistic falseness — nevertheless spends plenty of time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the emptiness of online fame. Though it can be satisfying to see CW manipulate different internet celebrities, 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 keyed into the isolation Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will reveal that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim by it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it can sometimes appear that he’s nodding at bits of modern online life without investigating them further. This is especially true 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 hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. Our society might be saturated with always-online creators, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but the world itself is still here, for now.