This Horror Follow-Up <em>Influencers</em> Is Set to Give Competing Digital Thrillers Serious FOMO

“Everything about this smells like a bad TV movie,” observes an opportunistic podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest whose bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. Yet his description of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. Superficially, two films on demand about a young woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers and then murders them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers is just how superior it is than plenty of its competition, regardless of where you watch it. It is precisely the suspense film that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.

Revisiting the First Film and Establishing the Scene

2022’s Influencer tracks the enigmatic CW (Cassandra Naud) while she quietly chooses solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and conceals those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The movie leaves off (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island near the coast of Thailand, following her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles on her.

This provides 2025's Influencers some early ambiguity, when returning filmmaker the director resumes with the character CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. During a trip marking their one-year anniversary, British influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW's attention and anger.

CW remarks to her partner that someone should try leaving a phone-addicted online personality in a place without any devices and see whether they can make it. Is this a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized by seeing the preferential treatment afforded one fame-seeker?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The story’s perspective changes multiple times, eventually clarifying those introductory moments' chronological position. The story revisits Madison, who has been exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, but still faces doubt over her version of what happened, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. We also follow Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to juice his career as half of a right-wing-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images 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 wardrobe.) While the follow-up's focus leans heavily into CW — the first film felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still functions as a tale of dueling investigators, with both women employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue and/or escape each other. Of course, perhaps the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a talent 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 creative team for Influencers seem similarly resourceful in locating stunning locations to visit, although they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. The vast majority of the movie seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even when numerous sequences consist of a relatively small cast of characters staring at computer or phone screens.

It follows the same logic that made the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, 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. It’s also especially fitting for a narrative so dependent on the simultaneous superficial glamour and try-hard grind of creating jealousy-worthy online content.

Every character visiting Bali, similar to those who were in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to impossibly chic contemporary villas; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature as much overhead swimming-pool footage. These individuals must believably occupy these lush, remote places to emphasize the uncomfortable paradox of how often each person — even the woman wreaking vengeance upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nonetheless devotes much time in the glow of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant against the vacuousness of online fame. Though it is satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment allows us to hope she evades capture, Harder is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. Previously, he keyed into the loneliness Madison experienced while on ostensibly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that just observing Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other doofuses; he resists turning into a caricature the character. He even grants Jacob a degree of respect through depicting his true devotion to his partner; he’s a hypocrite, but Ariana is a partner in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The other side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation means it may occasionally seem as if he is acknowledging elements of contemporary digital culture without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true regarding how he brings AI into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers might give fans of the first movie hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the film does eventually provide that, with a suitably chaotic climax. But before that, it resembles more a sleek Alfred Hitchcock movie than a wild-eyed, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ heavy use of actual places may also be what keeps it from seeming like pure nightmare fuel. Our society may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.