“The entire situation smells like a bad TV movie,” remarks an opportunistic commentator midway through the horror sequel Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. But his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn’t wrong. On its face, two films on demand about a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars before killing them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a lurid but network-approved weekly TV movie. The wild thing about Influencers remains just how superior it is compared to much of its competition, irrespective of where you watch it. It’s the kind of thriller that should give its peers a bad case of FOMO.
The 2022 film Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects solo-traveling influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those murders (for a time) by seizing control of their online accounts. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.
This lends the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder 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) catches CW's attention and ire.
CW remarks to her partner that a person should try stranding a phone-addicted online personality in a place with no technology and see whether they can survive. Are we witnessing a backstory prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the preferential treatment given to one fame-seeker?
The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ chronological position. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for committing CW’s crimes, yet still encounters suspicion regarding her recounting of the events, which includes the murder of Madison’s boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as part of a right-wing-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), although his preferred medium is bro-heavy streams, rather than the Instagram photos that typically attract CW's interest.
The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, which seems particularly custom-fit for her talents. (She also designed CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s focus tips heavily toward CW — the original seemed more balanced between the two women — it still functions as a story of dueling investigators, as Madison and CW both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to chase or evade each other. Then again, maybe the unlimited budget aren't needed. Online personalities possess a knack for gaining access to luxurious locales without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scamming.
The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly resourceful about finding stunning locations to visit, though they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that remains even as numerous sequences consist of a handful of actors of people staring at digital devices.
It’s the same principle that made the James Bond movies look so consistently opulent for decades: Indeed, big action and visual effects can display large spending, but simply offering a kind of visual tour to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. It’s also 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, like those who were in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to unbelievably stylish modern bungalows; there are movies about lifeguards which don't feature as much aerial pool footage. The characters must believably inhabit these luxurious, far-flung locations to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how often everyone — even the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ self-centered phoniness — nonetheless spends plenty of time under the light of their devices.
At the same time, the director has not crafted a rant targeting the vacuousness of online fame. While it is satisfying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of identification allows us to wish she evades capture, Harder is relatively sympathetic to the key influencer figures. In the first movie, he tapped into the loneliness Madison felt while on ostensibly dream getaways. In this film, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob at work will make it clear that he’s peddling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he avoids turning into a caricature the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his girlfriend; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his hypocrisy, not a victim of it.
The flip side of this balanced approach means it can sometimes appear that he is acknowledging bits of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is particularly evident of the way he introduces artificial intelligence into the plot, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel for the film might give devotees of the original hope for an Aliens-style escalation, and the movie does eventually provide exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. However, initially, it resembles more a sleek Hitchcock thriller than an frenzied, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what keeps it from coming across like utter horror. The world might be saturated with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself is still here, at least for now.
A seasoned casino analyst with over a decade of experience in gaming strategies and industry trends.
