🔗 Share this article

“This whole affair stinks of a cheap made-for-TV,” remarks a cynical commentator during the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, his tone is manipulatively dismissive of a guest with an outlandish story he once said he trusted. Yet his assessment of the events in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, a pair of streaming movies chronicling a young woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars and then murders them feels like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet cable-ready Movie of the Week. The wild thing regarding Influencers is how much better it is than plenty of the competition, regardless of where you watch it. It’s the kind of suspense film that should give other movies a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those murders (for a time) by taking control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This lends 2025's Influencers some early mystery, when returning writer-director the director picks up with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and ire.

CW comments to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed influencer somewhere with no technology and see whether they can make it. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the special treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those early scenes’ place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion over her recounting of the events, including the killing of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally attract CW’s attention.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, a role that appears especially custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) While the sequel’s screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still functions as a story of rival amateur detectives, as Madison and CW both use fake accounts, social media surveillance, and a seemingly unlimited travel budget to chase or evade each other. Then again, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent for getting to explore posh places without paying much, an ability which CW mirrors through her more blatant scamming.

Ingenious Filmmaking and Cinematic Travelogue

The creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating beautiful places to visit, although they were presumably less nefarious in their methods. Most of the film seems to be filmed in real places, providing it an authentic gravity that remains even as many scenes consist of a relatively small cast of people looking at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies appear so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, big action and special effects can show off a big budget, but simply offering a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems deeply filmic. It’s also especially fitting for a story so rooted in the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the first film, seem to have entry to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; there are movies concerning beach rescuers which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool video. The characters must believably occupy these luxurious, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — even the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time in the glow of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the emptiness of online fame. While it is satisfying to watch CW manipulate different internet celebrities, and a sense reminiscent of Hitchcock of alignment lets us to wish she doesn’t get caught, the filmmaker is somewhat sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he keyed into the isolation Madison experienced during ostensibly dream getaways. Here, the director appears confident that just observing Jacob in action will make it clear that he’s peddling false masculinity to other gullible men; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it can sometimes appear as if he’s nodding at elements of contemporary digital culture without investigating them. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychological edge it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers might give devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with an appropriately wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a polished Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, technology-obsessed Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations 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 the world itself remains present, for now.