🔗 Share this article

“Everything about this stinks like a cheap TV movie,” remarks a cynical podcaster midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being manipulatively dismissive of a guest whose outlandish story he once claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, two films on demand about a young woman who worms her way into the lives of social media stars before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing regarding Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the suspense film capable of giving other movies a bad case of FOMO.

Recapping the First Film and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) while she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, lures them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (for a time) by taking control of their online accounts. The film leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables on her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning writer-director the director picks up with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking the couple’s first anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and ire.

CW comments to Diane that someone ought to attempt leaving a device-obsessed influencer in a place with no technology and see if they can survive. Is this a backstory prequel? Did CW become extremist by seeing the preferential treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Evolving Viewpoints and Global Pursuits

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of carrying out CW's offenses, yet still encounters suspicion over her version of what happened, including the killing of her boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), living in Bali and trying to boost his profile as half of a conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his chosen platform is bro-heavy streams, as opposed to the Instagram photos that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made for her talents. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) While the follow-up's focus tips heavily toward CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works as a story of dueling investigators, with both women both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and an apparently limitless travel fund to chase and/or escape one another. Of course, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for gaining access to posh places without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious in locating beautiful places to film, although they were presumably less nefarious about it. The vast majority of the film seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that remains even when numerous sequences involve a handful of actors of characters looking at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle that made the Bond franchise look so consistently opulent over the years: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, but simply offering a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also particularly appropriate for a story so dependent on the coexisting superficial glamour and try-hard grind involved in producing envy-inducing digital content.

Every character in Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish contemporary villas; films exist about lifeguards that don’t show off this much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals must believably inhabit these lush, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how often each person — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nevertheless spends plenty of time in the glow of their devices.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, the director has not crafted a screed against the vacuousness of online fame. Though it can be gratifying to watch CW exploit different internet celebrities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the loneliness Madison experienced while on ostensibly dream getaways. 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 doofuses; he resists caricaturing the character further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, yet Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it may occasionally seem that he is acknowledging elements of modern online life without investigating them further. This is especially true of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, an intriguing development which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title for the film might give devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the movie does eventually provide that, with an appropriately chaotic climax. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than an wild-eyed, technology-obsessed De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what prevents it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, at least for now.