This Thriller Sequel <em>Influencers</em> Could Give Competing Streaming Suspense Films a Bad Case of FOMO

“Everything about this reeks of a cheap TV movie,” observes a cynical podcaster during the horror sequel Influencers. In the moment, his tone is dismissive in a calculated way of a guest with an bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. But his description of the events in the movie isn't inaccurate. Superficially, two streaming movies chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of social media stars and then murders them seems like the 21st-century equivalent of a tawdry but network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect about Influencers remains how much better it is than plenty of the competition, regardless of screen size. It is precisely the thriller capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Revisiting the Original and Setting the Stage

2022’s Influencer tracks the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she quietly chooses traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their deaths, and covers up those deaths (at least temporarily) by taking control of their socials. The film concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW marooned on an uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand, following her latest target, Madison (Emily Tennant), reverses their roles against her.

This provides the 2025 Influencers some early mystery, when returning filmmaker the director picks up with CW contentedly residing alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) draws CW’s eye and anger.

CW remarks to Diane that someone ought to attempt stranding a phone-addicted online personality in a place without any devices to see if they can make it. Are we witnessing an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment given to a single clout-chaser?

Evolving Viewpoints and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those early scenes’ place in the timeline. Harder catches up with Madison, now exonerated for carrying out CW's offenses, but still faces doubt regarding her recounting of what happened, including the murder of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali and trying to juice his career as half of a conservative-influencer power couple alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his preferred medium involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the Instagram photos that normally attract CW's interest.

The actor continues to be terrifically magnetic in the part, a role that appears particularly tailor-made to her strengths. (She even created CW's striking wardrobe.) Although the sequel’s screentime balance leans heavily into CW — the original felt more equally divided between her and Madison — it still works as a story of dueling amateur detectives, with both women both use fabricated profiles, Insta-stalking, and a seemingly limitless travel fund to pursue or evade one another. Of course, perhaps the unlimited budget aren't needed. Influencers have a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The creative team for Influencers appear equally resourceful about finding beautiful places to visit, though they were presumably less nefarious about it. Most of the film seems to be shot on location, providing it a real-world weight that lingers even as numerous sequences involve a relatively small cast of people staring at computer or phone screens.

It’s the same principle which allowed the James Bond movies look so persistently lavish for decades: Yes, big action and visual effects can show off large spending, but just providing a travelogue of sorts to viewers also seems inherently cinematic. This is especially fitting for a narrative so rooted in the coexisting superficial glamour and desperate hustle involved in producing jealousy-worthy online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those who were in Thailand in the original, seem to have access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; films exist concerning beach rescuers which don't feature this much aerial pool video. These individuals must believably inhabit these lush, remote places to highlight the uncomfortable paradox of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge upon the online stars' self-centered phoniness — nevertheless devotes much time under the light of their screens.

Balanced Depictions and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a screed against the vacuousness of the influencer industry. Though it can be satisfying to watch CW manipulate various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, the filmmaker is relatively sympathetic to the major influencer characters. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison felt while on supposedly envy-worthy vacations. In this film, Harder seems to trust that just observing 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 further. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity by showing his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of this balanced approach is that it can sometimes appear as if he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without deeply exploring them. This is particularly evident regarding how he brings AI into the story, an intriguing development that lacks the psychosexual kick it deserves. The retitled sequel of Influencers could offer fans of the first movie expectations of a larger-scale ante-upping, and the film ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably chaotic climax. However, initially, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled Brian De Palma thriller. Influencers’ extensive use of actual places may also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world might be saturated with content-churning influencers, digital deception, and self-serving tourism, but reality itself remains present, for now.