🔗 Share this article

“This whole affair stinks like a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks a cynical commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive toward an interviewee whose outlandish story he previously said he trusted. Yet his description of the events on screen isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two streaming movies about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid 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 is precisely the suspense film capable of giving other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This lends the 2025 Influencers a degree of mystery, as returning writer-director the director resumes with CW contentedly residing with her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that someone ought to attempt stranding a device-obsessed online personality somewhere without any devices to see whether they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment given to one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW’s crimes, but still faces suspicion over her recounting of what happened, which includes the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer power couple with Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically attract CW's interest.

Naud remains immensely captivating in the part, which seems especially custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking outfits.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works as a story of rival amateur detectives, with both women both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to pursue or evade each other. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to luxurious locales without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors with her more overt scheming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers appear equally ingenious in locating stunning locations to film, though they were likely less nefarious in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be filmed in real places, giving it a real-world weight that remains even as many scenes involve a relatively small cast of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish over the years: Yes, explosive action and special effects can show off a big budget, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also feels deeply filmic. This is particularly appropriate for a story so rooted in the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy digital content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to 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. The characters have to convincingly inhabit these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — including the woman wreaking vengeance on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Digital-Age Suspense

Simultaneously, the director has not crafted a rant against the emptiness of the influencer industry. While it is gratifying to see CW exploit various online personalities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment allows us to hope she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison felt during supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, the director appears confident that merely watching Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids caricaturing 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 someone exploited of it.

The other side of this balanced approach means it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it should have. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie expectations of an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately wild final act. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of real-world locations may also be what keeps it from seeming like utter horror. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, digital deception, and exploitative travel, but the world itself is still here, for now.